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PRAYER  IN  WAR  TIME 


( 


W.  ROBERTSON  NICOLL 


HODDER     AND     STOUGHTON 

LONDON   NEW  YORK   TORONTO 
MCMXVI 


PREFACE 

The  articles  which  form  this  volume  were 
published  in  the  British  Weekly  during  the 
War.  At  the  suggestion  of  many  readers 
they  are  now  sent  out  in  book  form.  The 
dates  of  publication  are  given  for  obvious 
reasons. 

Bay  Tree  Lodge, 
Hampstead, 

September  191t>. 


CONTENTS 


I 

PAGE 

PRAYER  IN  TIME  OF  WAR 3 


II 

A  CALL  FROM  THE  BATTLEFIELD  ...       15 

III 
FIRST  RIGHTEOUSNESS— THEN  PEACE  .         .       25 

IV 

^  ABIDE      WITH     US;       FOR      IT      IS     TOWARD 

EVENING' .35 

V 
HUMILIATION  A  PART  OF  PRAYER        ...       47 

VI 
PRAY  WITHOUT  CEASING 59 

VII 
'BUT  RATHER  GIVING  OF  THANKS'      ...       71 

vii 


viii  CONTENTS 


VIII 

FAGB 

THE  HAND  OF  GOD  IN  JUDGMENT        ...       83 


IX 
IMPORTUNATE  PRAYER 96 

X 

^ THE  ROCKS  ARE  NOT  BURNING'  .         .         .107 

XI 
TO  THE  QUIET  IN  THE  LAND  ....     119 

XII 
WHEN  THE  WOUNDED  GO  HOME  .         .         .133 

XIII 
^  THEIR  UN-OVERTAKEABLENESS'  .         .         .145 

XIV 
SUSPENSE 163 

XV 
ENDURANCE 166 

XVI 
THE  ACCEPTANCE  OF  SACRIFICE   ....     177 


I 

PRAYER  IN  TIME  OF  WAR 


PRAYER  IN  TIME  OF  WAR 

Published  September  24,  1914 

Love,  it  has  been  said,  that  needs  to  be  entreated 
is  not  perfect  love.  Perfect  love  would  unseal  the 
deep  fountains  of  mercy  and  make  them  flow. 
But  God  asks  to  be  entreated.  He  waits  for  the 
cry  of  His  troubled  children.  He  tells  them  to 
call  upon  Him  in  the  day  of  trouble,  and  He  will 
give  an  answer.  Yes,  those  who  have  never 
blessed  Him  in  the  day  of  joy  are  welcome  when 
they  call  in  the  day  of  sorrow.  They  are  not 
taunted  or  upbraided,  but  blessed  and  pitied. 

In  this  day  of  trouble  many  are  seeking  God 
who  hardly  gave  Him  a  place  in  their  thoughts 
while  the  sun  shone  on  them.  God  is  the  solitary 
refuge  to  which  the  anguished  heart  can  flee.  To 
be  driven  to  God  by  fear  is  more  ignoble  than  to 
be  drawn  to  Him  by  love,  but  He  makes  no  distinc- 
tions. This,  we  say,  is  a  time  for  prayer  and 
supphcation  and  intercession,  and  the  more  this 
spirit  grows,  the  more  intense  our  petitions  are ; 
the  more  frequent  our  assembhes,  the  happier  is 
the  prospect  that  this  trial  will  leave  the  nation 
spiritually  enriched. 


4  PRAYER  IN  \^  AR  TIME 

Yet  we  hear  from  many  quarters  that  there  is 
a  sense  of  perplexity  and  discouragement  in  many 
of  our  assemblies  for  prayer.  This  is,  we  believe, 
because  the  petitions  offered  are  not  clear  enough, 
not  definite  enough,  not  passionate  enough.  We 
may  recall  at  this  point  a  story  told  by  holy 
Samuel  ^Iartin.  A  minister  had  been  for  some 
time  engaged  in  prayer,  and  had  been  telling  God 
what  He  was  and  what  He  was  not,  what  He  had 
done  and  what  He  had  not  done,  till  a  poor  woman 
rose  in  the  meeting  and  said,  '  Ask  Him  some- 
thing ;  ask  Him  something.'  It  is  the  word  of 
our  Blessed  Lord,  '  Ask,  and  ye  shall  receive.' 
We  need  to  hear  the  voice  of  the  Mediator  saying 
to  us,  '  Ask  Him  something.'  We  need  to  hear 
the  voice  of  the  Holy  Ghost  saying,  '  Ask  Him 
something.'  We  need  to  hear  the  voice  of  our 
Father  saying,  '  Ask  Me  all  your  hearts'  desire, 
not  for  yourselves  only,  but  for  others,  and  for 
all.' 

We  shall  state  briefly  some  of  the  main  con- 
siderations on  the  nature  of  prayer,  and  their 
application  to  a  time  like  this. 

I 

In  the  first  place,  prayer  must  be  the  prayer  of 
faith.     We  love,  ourselves,  those  who  come  to  us 


PRAYER  IN  TIME  OF  WAR  5 

with  a  great  expectation  and  a  tender  confidence, 
and  so  does  God.  But  God  does  not  reject  the 
faith  that  is  dim,  cloudy,  questioning,  fearing. 
The  mere  fact  that  we  pray  to  God  means  that  we 
have  faith,  though  it  be  only  like  a  mustard  seed. 
Nor  is  there  any  limit  to  the  answer  given  to 
prayer  for  pardon  and  for  power  against  evil. 
The  prayers  we  offer  up  are  never  free  from  sin, 
but  so  long  as  they  are  not  consciously  treacherous 
or  mean  or  selfish  they  will  be  regarded. 

What  this  generation  needs  above  everything 
is  to  consider  prayer  as  the  bringing  of  the  powxr 
of  the  human  will  to  wrestle  with  the  Divine  will. 
A  corrupt  mysticism  teaches  that  all  true  prayer 
begins  with  a  renunciation  of  all  personal  will, 
that  prayer  is  a  sigh  of  resignation.  Prevailing 
prayer,  according  to  this  evil  teaching,  means  a 
prayer  that  simply  and  speedily  subsides  into 
God's  will  and  is  quiet.  But  all  Scripture  and  all 
Christian  experience  are  dead  against  this  view. 
The  will  is  the  central  part  of  our  personality, 
and,  as  Bushnell  says,  '  God  means  it  to  be 
ennobled  and  not  crushed.'  Of  course,  in  the 
end  God's  will  decides.  The  mere  thought  of 
forcing  our  will  upon  God  is  blasphemous.  But, 
all  the  same,  prevailing  prayer  means  a  supplica- 
tion that  has  brought  a  reason  for  God's  hearing 


6  PRAYER  IN  WAR  TIME 

and  for  giving  the  thing  requested,  as  otherwise 
He  would  not  have  willed  to  do.  We  need  not  be 
troubled  at  the  mystery  of  God's  purposes.  To 
quote  again  from  Bushnell  :  '  God's  purposes 
are  set  by  His  reasons,  as  clocks  by  the  sun.  He 
has  our  prayers  as  in  everlasting  counsel  before 
the  prayers  are  made.' 

We  see  then — and  it  is  a  message  for  the  hour 
and  for  all  hours — that  prayer  succeeds  by  the 
intensity  of  will  force  put  into  it.  There  are  those 
who  deny  the  right  of  the  will  to  exertion,  who 
condemn  it  from  the  outset.  But  God  wants  to 
see  our  will,  to  see  it  in  action,  to  make  account 
of  it,  and  to  give  it  a  place  in  His  mind.  The  Bible 
from  the  beginning  is  full  of  importunate  and 
prevailing  prayers — prayers  which  prevailed  simply 
because  they  were  importunate.  Such  was  the 
prayer  of  Abraham  when  he  pleaded  for  Sodom. 
Such  was  the  prayer  of  Jacob  w^hen  he  wrestled 
with  the  angel.  Such  was  the  prayer  of  Moses 
when  he  pleaded  to  be  blotted  from  God's  book 
if  his  people  were  to  be  blotted.  Our  Lord  fre- 
quently commends  importunate  and  unfainting 
prayer  :  '  Men  ought  always  to  pray  and  not  to 
faint.'  •  We  are  to  hold  on  with  inflexible  tenacity 
till  we  know  that  God  says  to  us,  as  He  sometimes 
does,  '  Speak  no  more  to  Me  of  this  matter.'     It 


PRAYER  IN  TIME  OF  WAR  7 

is,  we  fully  believe,  the  want  of  will  in  our  prayers 
that  so  often  makes  them  end  in  failure.  There 
are  many  prayers  that  God  cannot  answer  simply 
because  they  fail  in  heroic  trust. 


II 

So  far  we  have  written  of  importunate  and 
definite  petitions.  What  are  we  to  say  about  the 
prayer  of  yearning  ?  Not  much.  It  is  impossible, 
however,  to  doubt  that  this  form  of  supplication 
has  power  with  God,  and  often  prevails.  There 
are  hearts  so  cruelly  crushed  that  they  are  unable 
to  direct  themselves  to  God  and  put  into  articulate 
forms  the  longings  that  consume  them.  Their 
sighs,  their  griefs,  their  sorrows,  their  aspirations 
are  nevertheless  known  to  God,  Who  loves  them. 
These  sufferers  seem  to  have  no  force  of  will  to 
put  into  their  intercourse  with  God.  But  the  very 
depth  of  their  feeling,  and  the  very  fact  that  they 
have  done  nothing  to  increase  it,  but  that  it  has 
stirred  and  grown  and  agonised,  witness  a  most 
moving  sincerity  which  is  not  lost,  not  ignored, 
not  forgotten,  not  left  without  an  answer.  It  is 
written  that  the  Holy  Ghost  Himself  passes  out 
of  the  sphere  of  words  when  He  pleads  with 
groanings  that  cannot  be  uttered. 


8  PRAYER  IN  WAR  TIME 

III 

We  are  to  pray  in  the  name  of  Christ.  It  is 
much  that  in  this  way  we  are  less  trammelled  with 
the  miserable  consciousness  of  our  own  evil,  with 
the  sense  of  shortcomings  and  guilt.  Christ  is 
the  answer  to  this  self-condemnation,  and  He 
answered  it  once  for  all  on  His  Cross.  A  daring 
Christian  thinker  has  said  frankly  that  '  In  My 
name  '  means  simply  '  In  My  Cross.'  '  Hitherto 
ye  have  asked  nothing  in  My  name.  Ask,  and  ye 
shall  receive,  that  your  joy  may  be  full.'  And 
indeed  it  is  because  we  have  a  High  Priest  in  the 
holiest  place  Who  once  offered  Himself  without 
spot  to  God  that  we  may  come  boldly  to  a  throne 
of  grace.  The  Saints  of  old  had  prevision  of  the 
great  Atonement.  They  were  trying  to  say  '  In 
Christ's  name '  before  the  time  :  '  Have  mercy 
upon  me,  O  God,  according  to  Thy  lovingkindness  ; 
according  to  the  multitude  of  Thy  tender  mercy 
blot  out  my  transgressions.'  But  an  infinite 
and  blessed  change  came  over  all  things  when 
the  Son  of  God  passed  from  the  invisible  world 
into  the  world  of  time  and  history.  Now  we  are 
admitted  beyond  the  scene  of  the  finite  into 
personal  communion  with  the  Eternal  Son,  through 
Whom  all  things  are  made.     We  stand  by  His  side, 


PRAYER  IN  TIME  OF  WAR  9 

and  our  heart  is  with  His  heart  when  we  ask  in 
His  name  and  receive  till  our  joy  is  full. 

Also  when  we  pray  in  the  name  of  Christ  He 
makes  us  in  a  very  real  and  deep  sense  partners 
with  Himself  and  His  work  of  intercession.  We 
are  prone  to  think  very  lightly  of  intercession. 
We  go  into  a  meeting  and  offer  up  certain  prayers, 
and  then  pass  out  into  the  world  to  forget  our 
pleadings  and  those  for  whom  we  have  been 
pleading.  But  true  intercession  lies  on  the  soul 
day  and  night.  Intercession  wades  deep  as  love. 
When  we  truly  intercede  we  put  the  passion  of 
our  wills  into  the  prayer,  and  the  names  become 
realities,  and  we  pass  as  far  as  we  may  into  the 
needs  and  sorrows  and  struggles  of  those  whose 
cause  we  have  espoused.  The  Man  of  the  Cross, 
the  Intercessor  on  the  right  hand  of  the  Majesty 
on  high,  was  called  to  His  work  by  God,  and  so 
are  those  who  share  in  His  intercessory  work. 
They  also  are  called.  '  I  sought  for  a  man  among 
them  that  should  make  up  the  hedge  and  stand  in 
the  gap  before  Me.' 

IV 

We  proceed  briefly  to  apply  these  principles  t© 
our  present  circumstances. 

In  the  first  place,  it  is  our  business  to  pray  for 


10  PRAYER  IN  WAR  TIME 

victory  in  the  battlefield.  Many  are  leaving  our 
churches  and  chapels  sore  at  heart  because  there 
has  been  no  direct  appeal  to  the  Throne  of  Grace 
for  victory  to  our  arms.  We  are  commanded,  or 
rather  invited,  in  everything  to  make  our  requests 
made  known  unto  God.  There  is  no  desire  more 
strong  or  more  righteous  among  us  at  the  present 
hour  than  the  desire  for  victory.  And  are  we  not 
to  express  that  desire  and  to  plead  it  with  all 
the  forces  of  our  will  ?  We  believe  that  we  are 
fighting  for  freedom,  for  righteousness,  for  the 
defeat  of  the  enemies  of  the  human  race.  And 
are  we  not  to  pray  for  these  things  ?  Each  day 
comes  with  a  fresh  proof  that  we  are  at  war  with 
Anti-Christ.  The  destruction  of  the  Rheims 
Cathedral  is  a  spot  on  Germany  which  can  never 
be  washed  out  whilst  memory  holds  her  seat. 
All  the  centuries  to  come  cannot  undo  this  deed. 
To  commit  this  sacrilege  and  defend  it  is  to  re- 
nounce humanity  and  to  defy  God.  Most  of  the 
forms  of  prayer  that  have  been  published  at  this 
time  are  so  limp,  so  nerveless,  so  faithless,  so 
cowardly  that  the  mere  reading  of  them  depresses. 
We  want  no  forms  of  prayer  for  our  Free  Churches. 
What  we  do  want  is  the  proof  that  those  who 
lead  our  services  are  prepared  to  put  before 
God    with    solemn    pleading    the    supreme,    the 


PRAYER  IN  TIME  OF  WAR  11 

agonising  desire  that  victory  should  come,  and 
come  soon.  We  say  dehberately  that  it  would 
be  far  better  not  to  attempt  prayer  at  all  than  to 
show  such  a  practical  and  measureless  disbelief  in 
prayer  as  is  involved  in  the  refusal  to  ask  God's 
blessing  in  a  victory. 

We  must  also  pray  for  our  soldiers  and  our 
sailors,  and  pray  as  far  as  it  is  possible  for  each 
by  name.  The  Churches  have  an  opportunity 
such  as  very  rarely  comes  to  them.  There  is  a 
strange  breaking  down  of  the  barriers  of  custom 
and  convention.  The  nation  is  drawn  together, 
and  is  at  unity  with  itself.  Let  every  church  and 
chapel  that  has  sent  forth  men  to  fight  for  us 
hang  a  roll  of  their  names  within  its  walls,  and 
plead  for  them  at  every  meeting.  Let  us  pray 
that  if  it  be  possible  they  may  be  spared  to  come 
back,  though  many  must  die,  and  let  us  pray  that 
every  death  on  the  battlefield  may  be  a  death  in 
grace.  But  it  is  lawful  and  it  is  right  to  pray  that 
their  lives  may  be  spared.  Indeed,  this  is  almost 
the  only  prayer  which  many  a  one  can  make. 
There  has  been  little  sunshine  in  the  house  since 
the  dearest  went  away,  and  there  is  a  burden 
which  weighs  like  lead  upon  the  lonely  heart. 
Let  this  lonely  heart  be  comforted  and  cheered 
by  the  thought  that  others  are  praying  for  those 


12  PRAYER  IN  WAR  TIME 

of  whom  they  keep  thinking  all  the  day  and  night. 
The  intercession  we  have  asked  for  will  seek  out 
every  home  from  which  one  has  gone  and  do  its 
utmost  to  comfort,  to  strengthen,  to  relieve. 
We  are  confident  that  our  people  will  see  to  it 
that  those  left  in  poverty  by  the  absence  of  the 
breadwinner  shall  not  suffer  from  want.  But 
there  is  a  trouble  much  harder  to  bear  than  that, 
and  in  that  trouble  also  the  sufferers  must  be 
helped.  And  they  will  mainly  be  helped  by 
intercession.  The  great  matters  of  life  and  death 
and  eternity  are  before  the  national  mind  as  they 
never  were  before.  Woe  unto  us  if  we  are  deaf 
or  disobedient  to  the  calls  that  are  ringing  in  our 
ears.  Let  those  who  are  hazarding  their  lives 
for  our  safety  and  peace  have  the  comfort  of 
knowing  that  their  dear  ones  are  guarded  and 
beloved,  and  that  they  themselves  are  never 
forgotten  where  the  people  of  God  assemble. 

Next  we  must  pray  for  our  enemies  also,  remem- 
bering that  the  first  cry  of  the  Immaculate  Lamb 
from  the  Altar  was,  '  Father,  forgive  them,  for 
they  know  not  what  they  do.' 


II 

A  CALL  FROM  THE  BATTLEFIELD 


A  CALL  FROM  THE  BATTLEFIELD 

Address  deiiren-d  at  the  City  Teinple  Infcrcessory  Service 
on  October  23,  1914 

'  Pray  for  us  :  for  we  trust  we  have  a  good  conscience,  in  all 
things  willing  to  live  honestly.  But  I  beseech  you  the  rather 
to  do  this,  that  1  may  be  restored  to  you  the  sooner.' — Hebkkws 
xiii.  18,  19. 

I  BRING  you  to-day  a  message  from  those  who  are 
fighting  for  us  on  land  and  on  sea.  They  are 
saying  to  us  in  the  homeland,  '  Pray  for  us  :  for 
we  trust  we  have  a  good  conscience,  in  all  things 
willing  to  live  honestly.  But  I  beseech  you  the 
rather  to  do  this,  that  I  may  be  restored  to  you 
the  sooner.' 

I 

They  have  a  right  to  our  prayers,  for  they  have 
the  right  to  claim  a  good  conscience  and  a  willing- 
ness to  live  honestly  in  all  things.  They  have 
'  a  good  conscience,'  for  they  have  hazarded  all 
in  the  cause  of  righteousness  and  peace.  We  have 
too  much  forgotten  that  in  the  last  resort  we  are 
entirely  and  wholly  dependent  on  our  soldiers  and 
sailors — especially  on  those  who  have  the  almost 
unbearable  responsibility  of  leading  them.  We 
have  wisdom   and   counsel,   we   have   might   and 

15 


16  PRAYER  IN  WAR  TIME 

money  and  great  resources,  and  with  these  we  can 
back  our  brave  men  in  the  critical  struggle.  But 
without  them  we  are  helpless,  and  all  that  we 
possess  and  all  that  we  do  will  not  bring  us  to 
our  goal.  How  precious,  then,  and  how  near  our 
hearts,  must  those  be  who  are  facing  the  actual 
and  awful  realities  of  war  ! 

They  have  a  good  conscience,  for  they  are  doing 
all  that  men  can  do  for  the  honour,  the  safety, 
and  peace  of  our  Empire  and  our  civilisation. 
It  is  they  who  stand  between  our  women  and 
children — ^between  them  and  death,  or  worse  than 
death.  They  have  removed  themselves  beyond 
all  challenge,  for  they  have  withheld  nothing 
It  is  we  men  who  remain  at  home  and  refrain 
from  actual  intervention  in  the  fight  who  are  on 
our  defence.  It  is  we  who  have  to  answer  to  our 
conscience,  to  our  country,  and  to  our  God,  that 
we  are  out  of  the  zone  of  fire,  and  are  in  the  enjoy- 
ment of  our  homes.  There  are,  of  course,  very 
many  who  have  a  good  answer  to  the  challenge. 
They  are  debarred  by  age  or  physical  weakness 
from  taking  their  place  in  the  ranks.  The  day 
may  come,  however,  when  even  they  may  have 
to  do  the  little  they  can.  There  are  no  doubt 
very  many  who  ought  to  have  obeyed  the  summons, 
who  have  the  qualifications,  and  who  for  various 


A  CALL  FROM  THE  BATTLEFIELD     17 

reasons  are  holding  back.  We  may  hope  that  as 
the  conflict  goes  on  they  may  see  the  path  more 
plainly.  It  is  as  certain  as  it  can  be  that  multi- 
tudes are  not  of  good  conscience  in  this  matter. 
But  we  who  are  not  reckoned  among  the  fit  must 
do  what  we  can  for  those  who  are.  We  cannot 
make  our  absence  good.  We  cannot  sacrifice 
what  those  in  the  fight  are  sacrificing.  How 
glorious  is  the  record  of  men  who  have  offered 
themselves  willingly  in  all  ranks  of  life  !  How 
many  who  were  rich  in  possessions,  in  love,  in 
youth,  in  hope,  with  life  opening  sunnily  before 
them,  have  quietly  given  their  lives,  unboasting 
and  unfearing !  How  many  have  met  death 
without  a  murmur  or  a  pang  !  How  meekly  and 
how  devoutly  have  their  stricken  ones  taken  up 
life  afresh,  as  those  who  were  sure  of  a  meeting  ! 
Have  they  not  a  right  to  ask  for  our  prayers  ? 

They  have  been  in  all  things  '  willing  to  live 
honestly.'  We  have  many  stories  of  our  soldiers 
and  sailors,  and  they  all  testify  to  their  gaiety, 
their  courage,  their  kindness.  They  have  smiled 
in  the  face  of  death.  They  have  grown  brighter 
and  better  tempered  and  keener  under  the 
harshest  conditions.  War  is  war,  but  they  have 
done  what  they  could  in  mercy  and  in  pity.  Not 
one  case  of  outrage  or  needless  cruelty  has  been 

B 


18  PRAYER  IN  WAR  TIME 

made  good  against  any  soldier  of  our  British 
troops.  We  thrill  with  pride  when  we  think  of 
them — of  what  they  are,  and  of  what  they  have 
done,  and  what  they  are  doing. 

II 

What  can  we  do  for  our  soldiers  and  sailors  ? 
Many  things  ;  but  not  the  least  thing  is  to  pray 
for  them.  What  do  we  mean  by  prayer  ?  Do 
we  mean  by  prayer  a  simple,  hopeless  out-breath- 
ing, dying  away  in  false  and  feeble  resignation  ? 
The  author  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  took  no 
such  view  of  prayer.  Perhaps  his  was  the  most 
subtle  and  beautiful  mind  among  all  the  inspired 
writers  of  the  New  Testament.  He  unquestion- 
ably regarded  prayer  as  a  power.  '  I  'beseech 
you  the  rather  to  do  this,  that  I  may  be  restored 
to  you  the  sooner.'  Our  soldiers  and  sailors,  in 
their  long  days  and  nights,  go  on  cheerily  with 
their  work,  but  who  among  them  does  not  long 
to  be  back,  crowned  with  victory,  and  in  the 
arms  of  his  own  ?  Pray  for  that.  Pray  as  those 
who  believe  that  your  prayer  may  make  a  differ- 
ence. There  is  such  a  thing  as  the  suppliant 
almightiness  of  prayer.  God  does  not  mean 
our  prayers  to  be  mere  sighs  of  acquiescence. 
He  loves  to  be  entreated,  pleaded  with,  wrestled 


A  CALL  FROM  THE  BATTLEFIELD     19 

with.  He  does  not  wish  to  break  our  wills,  but 
to  make  them.  We  are  to  put  will  into  our 
prayers.  '  Ask  and  ye  shall  receive,  seek  and 
ye  shall  find,  knock  and  it  shall  be  opened  unto 
you.'  What  I  mean  is  that  we  should  pray  with 
all  our  might  for  a  speedy  victory.  Is  there  one 
of  us  who  does  not  long  for  it  ?  Is  it  conceivable 
there  should  be  a  single  human  being  in  this  city 
or  in  this  land  who  would,  if  he  could,  prolong 
this  w^ar  by  a  single  day  ?  I  cannot  believe  it. 
Well,  then,  if  we  desire  this  we  must  pray  for  it. 
If  we  are  not  ready  to  pray  for  it  we  have  no 
right  to  desire  it.  But  we  desire  it,  and  we  pray 
for  it,  and  we  pray  as  those  who  believe  that  it  is 
not  the  same  thing  to  God  and  man  whether  we 
pray  or  no. 

'  That  I  may  be  restored  to  you  the  sooner.' 
The  day  of  the  return  of  our  victorious  fighters — 
oh,  what  a  day  that  day  will  be  !  I  never  longed 
so  much  to  live  for  anything  as  to  live  to  that 
day.  Oh,  the  rapture  and  the  rest  and  the  thank- 
fulness and  the  gladness  that  will  fill  every  heart 
when  again  there  is  peace  on  earth — a  righteous 
peace  !  They  will  not  all  come  back,  and  many 
of  us  will  have  to  go  through  our  Geth«emane — 
a  fierce  conflict,  a  submission,  a  strengthening 
angel.     But    still,    they    will    return,    the     vast 


20  PRAYER  IN  WAR  TIME 

majority  of  them,  crowned,  as  we  believe,  with 
glory. 

Well,  then,  let  us  pray  for  it  with  the  whole 
intensity  of  our  hearts.  Oh,  if  we  only  believed 
that  our  prayers  would  bring  them  back  sooner 
— if  London  believed  it,  if  the  Churches  believed 
it — instead  of  having  hundreds  present  this  day 
we  should  have  had  thousands,  and  no  place  in 
London  would  be  able  to  contain  the  pleaders. 
But  there  are  many  of  us  who  do  really  believe 
it.  Let  us  go  on  with  our  praying,  and  make 
it,  if  we  can,  more  earnest  every  day.  There  is 
prayer  all  over  the  world.  There  is  prayer  on 
sea  and  land.  Every  soldier  in  the  trenches  puts 
up  his  prayer  at  night.  A  recent  visitor  to  Russia 
wrote  home,  '  I  have  come  here  to  see  a  nation 
on  its  knees.'  Our  country  is  not  yet  on  its 
knees.     When  it  is  we  shall  see  the  light  break. 

Ill 

An  American  writer  has  said  that  what  we 
want  to  see  most  of  all  is  good  pray-ers.  It 
seems  as  if  there  were  not  many  left  to  us. 
Perhaps  the  throng  and  fever  of  our  modern 
days  incapacitates  men  and  women  for  that 
continual  siege  of  heaven  which  is  involved  in 
true    prayer.     It    is    hard    to    concentrate    one's 


A  CALL  FR03I  THE  BATTLEFIELD      21 

energy  on  prayer  and  to  obey  the  commandment, 
'  Pray  without  ceasing.'  But  it  is  not  impossible. 
If  we  pray  for  our  soldiers  and  sailors  the  last 
thing  each  night,  if  we  do  so  as  soon  as  we  waken, 
if  from  time  to  time  during  the  day  we  lift  up 
our  hearts  in  Christ's  name,  then  perhaps,  by 
and  by,  even  as  the  days  are  saturated  with 
thought  about  the  War,  they  will  be  saturated  with 
prayer  about  the  War.  When  we  have  prayed 
enough  the  War  will  end.  But  let  us  who  believe 
in  prayer  see  to  it  that  it  is  not  prolonged  by  our 
neglect. 

And  so  I  give  you  again  the  message  from 
those  who  are  fighting  for  us  on  land  and  sea, 
'  Pray  for  us  :  for  we  trust  we  have  a  good  con- 
science, in  all  things  willing  to  live  honestly. 
But  I  beseech  you  the  rather  to  do  this,  that  I 
may  be  restored  to  you  the  sooner.' 


Ill 

FIRST  RIGHTEOUSNESS-THEN 
PEACE 


FIRST  RIGHTEOUSNESS-THEN 
PEACE 

Address  delivered  at  the  City  Temple  Intercesiiory  Service 
on  October  30,  1914 

'First  being  by  interpretation  King  of  righteousness,  and 
after  that  also  King  of  Salem,  which  is,  King  of  peace.' — 
Hebrews  vii.  2. 

We  hated  war  with  a  steadily  growing  hatred 
and  abhorrence.  We  hate  it  more  than  ever, 
and  look  with  longing  for  its  end.  A  great  and 
powerful  movement  for  peace  was  at  work  in 
the  world,  and  has  not  been  defeated  though  it  has 
been  stayed.  But  we  never  said  that  all  wars 
were  to  be  condemned.  We  knew  too  well  that 
huge  armaments  were  being  piled  up.  We  be- 
came familiar  with  the  language  of  menace  and 
hate.  We  had  to  say,  '  I  am  for  peace,  but  when  I 
speak  they  are  for  war.'  At  last  the  storm  burst 
upon  us,  and  found  us  but  partially  prepared,  while 
the  enemy  had  prepared  by  all  means — fair  and 
foul.  When  the  time  came  we  calmly  took  our  side. 
Never  in  any  previous  war  was  the  nation  so 
united  and  so  steadfast.  We  had  not  renounced 
our  quest  for  peace,  but  we  saw  that  something 

25 


26  PRAYER  IN  WAR  TIME 

came  before  that.  That  something  was  righteous- 
ness. Our  LoED  Jesus  Christ  is  first  King  of 
Righteousness,  and  then  King  of  Peace. 

I 

First,  righteousness.  Had  it  not  been  for  that 
we  might  have  had  a  kind  of  peace.  It  would  not 
have  lasted  long  unless  we  had  become  so  craven 
as  to  fear  a  fight  in  any  cause.  It  would  have 
been  a  selfish,  ignoble,  and  cowardly  peace, 
bought  at  the  price  of  open  and  cynical  treachery. 
We  might  have  renounced  our  plighted  word, 
our  honour,  our  obligations.  We  might  have 
torn  up  the  scrap  of  paper  and  left  little  Belgium 
to  her  fate.  But  it  could  not  be.  It  would  have 
been  a  peace  which  would  have  made  us  the 
scorn  of  the  whole  world,  and  left  us  without  a 
friend.  Such  perfidy  and  such  ignominy  would 
have  been  many  times  worse  than  war. 

While  the  battles  rage  our  hearts  are  often 
anxious  and  heavy.  They  will  be  for  months  to 
come.  We  shall  have  bitter  news  as  well  as 
joyful  news.  Our  endurance  and  our  faith  will 
be  tested  to  the  uttermost.  Consider  how  much 
more  wretched  we  should  have  been  if  we  had  been 
out  of  this  war,  if  we  had  been  watching  the  ruin 
of  our  Allies  and  remained  passive.     Better  war,  we 


FIRST  RIGHTEOUSNESS— THEN  PEACE     27 

say  from  our  hearts,  than  the  tame  acquiescence 
in  the  claim  of  the  German  mihtarism  to  dominate 
the  world. 

But  Jesus  is  first  King  of  Righteousness.  Is 
this  an  antiquated  phrase  covering  a  dead  thought  ? 
Nay,  verily  it  is  the  spring  of  life's  hope  and  of 
its  highest  joy.  Righteousness  is  the  keyword 
of  Christianity.  It  is  the  granite  foundation  of 
our  faith.  The  idea  of  righteousness  is  not  a 
simple  rudiment  of  the  spiritual  schools.  Who- 
ever understands  St.  Paul's  intense  conception 
of  righteousness  knows  that  it  was  the  secret 
spring  of  the  Apostle's  spiritual  power.  To  him 
the  Gospel  was  primarily  a  declaration  of  the 
righteousness  of  God.  Even  love  took  second 
place  to  righteousness.  This  idea  was  given 
from  above,  it  was  not  evolved  from  the  inner 
consciousness,  or  from  a  survey  of  the  world's 
history.  The  whole  course  of  revelation  is  the 
gradual  unveiling  of  the  righteous  God,  which 
reaches  its  end  in  the  New  Testament.  Once  we 
know  what  righteousness  meant  to  the  Apostles 
we  have  not  much  more  to  learn. 

I  agree  with  the  eminent  preacher  who  said  that 
if  we  as  a  nation  had  never  known  Christ  we 
should  have  been  at  peace.  It  is  Christ  Who  has 
flung   His   shield   over   the    weak   things    of    the 


28  PRAYER  IN  WAR  TIME 

world.  The  love  of  liberty,  the  abhorrence  of 
tyranny,  the  care  for  the  rights  of  other  nations, 
the  sacred  obligations  of  honour,  would  have  had 
no  power  to  move  us  to  battle  had  it  not  been  for 
the  spirit  of  Christ  within  us.  The  devil  would 
have  advised  us  to  be  neutral.  He  would  have 
w^hispered  to  us  that  nothing  was  to  be  put  in 
comparison  with  our  own  comfort  and  prosperity 
and  security.  He  would  have  advised  us  to  be 
content  with  our  little  island,  and  to  obey  the 
bests  of  our  masters,  and  to  cast  to  the  wind  the 
old  superstitions  about  justice  and  mercy  and 
courage  and  faith*  No,  it  is  because  we  are 
Christians  that  we  have  gone  to  war.  It  is 
Christ  Himself  who  has  bidden  us  draw  the 
sword  for  the  cause  of  righteousness. 

II 

First  righteousness,  and  then  peace — by  which 
I  mean  a  righteous  peace.  There  is  no  other 
peace  worth  striving  for,  no  other  peace  in  which 
men  can  be  happy.  Is  it  possible  for  us  to  hope 
that  as  a  result  of  this  frightful  war  such  a  peace 
may  come  to  us  ?  There  are  many  who  are 
comforting  themselves  during  this  agony  by  the 
thought  that  this  war  will  mean  the  end  of  wars. 
There    are    others,    less    sanguine,    who    say   that 


FIRST  RIGHTEOUSNESS— THEN  PEACE     29 

as  long  as  sin  remains  war  will  remain.  To  get 
rid  of  war  we  must  first  get  rid  of  the  evil  that  is 
in  men's  hearts.  I  cannot  help  thinking  that  we 
may  look  forward  hopefully  to  the  end  of  war 
if  a  righteous  peace  is  reached.  I  decline  to 
accept  war  as  the  permanent  condition  of  human 
society.  Slavery  has  been  all  but  banished  from 
the  world,  and  may  not  war  be  banished  ?  When 
we  come  to  the  end  of  the  weary  strife  we  shall 
see  many  things  in  a  new  light.  We  shall  see, 
as  we  do  not  see  even  now,  the  horror,  the  pity, 
the  futility,  the  ruin  and  the  waste,  which  follow 
in  the  track  of  war.  I  would  fain  hope  that, 
when  the  course  of  this  world  war  is  calmly 
surveyed,  the  appeal  to  the  arbitrament  of  war 
will  cease.  We  cannot  look  forward  very  far, 
but  surely  we  may  expect  that  at  the  end  the 
victors  will  see  to  it  that,  as  far  as  it  is  possible, 
war  and  the  menace  of  war  shall  be  removed  from 
the  terrors  of  human  life.  It  is  for  this  that  we 
are  fighting,  and  save  this  we  can  look  for  little  as 
the  result  of  our  costly  sacrifice. 

But  if  the  fight  goes  against  us  there  is  no 
such  hope.  Imagine — if  you  can  imagine — a 
triumphant  Germany.  Imagine — if  you  can 
imagine — Britain,  France,  Russia,  India,  Canada, 
Australia,   Japan,   all  the   subdued   and   obedient 


30  PRAYER  IN  WAR  TIME 

vassals  of  the  German  conqueror.  Would  this 
make  an  end  of  war  ?  Does  any  one  believe 
that  such  a  triumph  would  be  more  than  the 
triumph  of  an  hour  ?  Only  by  the  sheer  whole- 
sale murder  of  all  free  men  could  such  a  settle- 
ment be  made  permanent.  Such  an  end  would 
be  no  end.  So  long  as  any  Briton  could  lift  his 
arm  there  w^ould  be  conspiracies  first  and  battles 
next,  and  soon  the  flames  would  be  burning  over 
the  whole  earth.  There  is  no  peace  in  that, 
neither  is  there  a  true  peace  if  we  merely  beat 
Germany  on  the  land  and  on  the  sea.  It  has  been 
well  said  that  we  should  be  conquerors  in  that 
case,  but  we  shall  be  more  than  conquerors  if  we 
can  exorcise  the  demon  of  militarism  from  the 
German  mind  and  soul,  for  Germany  in  her 
humihation  will  learn  to  take  her  true  place  among 
the  fellowship  of  the  nations.  Our  hope,  however, 
for  the  true  peace  that  is  built  upon  righteousness 
is  in  the  triumph  of  the  King  of  Salem,  who  was 
first  of  all  King  of  Righteousness — Who  is  made 
of  God  to  all  His  people  wisdom  and  righteousness 
and  sanctification  and  redemption.  When  the 
lightnings  flash  from  one  end  of  heaven  to  the 
other,  and  He  returns  to  the  world  again,  He 
will  take  to  Himself  His  great  power  and  reign, 
and  then  will  come  a  peace  never  to  be  broken 


FIRST  RIGHTEOUSNESS— THEN  PEACE     31 

more.  There  is  much  in  the  New  Testament  to 
suggest  that  He  will  come  through  the  ragings 
and  convulsions  and  earthquakes  of  the  world. 
As  Charles  Wesley  wrote,  in  those  lines  which 
Charlotte  Bronte  has  quoted  : — 

'  Oh  I  who  can  explain 

This  struggle  for  life. 
This  travail  and  pain^ 

This  trembling  and  strife  ? 
Plague,  earthquake  and  famine, 

And  tumult  of  war. 
The  wonderful  coming 

Of  Jesus  declare.' 

He  will  come  again  to  this  old,  weary,  blood- 
drenched  earth,  and  then  will  be  the  reign  of 
peace.  Then  will  all  the  wild  tumult  be  laid  to 
rest,  and  instead  of  the  thorn  shall  come  up  the 
fir  tree,  and  instead  of  the  brier  shall  come  up 
the  myrtle  tree,  and  it  shall  be  to  the  Lord  for  a 
name,  for  an  everlasting  sign  that  shall  not  be 
cut  off. 


IV 

'ABIDE  WITH  US:  FOR  IT  IS 
TOWARD  EVENING' 


'ABIDE  WITH  US:   FOR  IT  IS 
TOWARD  EVENING' 

Published  May  4,  1916 

The  risen  Lord,  after  His  precious  and  victorious 
Passion,  after  He  had  broken  the  bars  of  death, 
went  with  two  disciples  from  Jerusalem  to 
Emmaus.  '  And  they  drew  nigh  unto  the  village 
whither  they  went :  and  He  made  as  though  He 
would  have  gone  farther.  But  they  constrained 
Him,  saying,  Abide  with  us  :  for  it  is  toward 
evening,  and  the  day  is  far  spent.  And  He  went 
in  to  tarry  with  them.' 

If  we  consider  the  passage  carefully  we  shall 
see  that  the  prayer  of  the  disciples,  '  Abide  with 
us,  for  it  is  toward  evening,'  is  generally  mis- 
interpreted. This  misinterpretation  pervades  one 
cherished  and  beautiful  hymn  familiar  to  the 
Christian  Church.  The  hymn  takes  their  request 
as  meaning  that  they,  for  their  sakes,  as  the  day 
was  darkling,  pleaded  for  the  company  of  Him 
Who  had  mastered  the  terrors  of  the  night.  But 
when  we  look  at  the  verses  we  see  that  it  was  of 
His  plight  and  not  of  their  own  that  they  were 
thinking.     He  was,  so  far  as  they  knew,  without 

35 


36  PRAYER  IN  WAR  TIME 

shelter,  and  their  hearts,  still  burning  with  the 
words  He  had  spoken  to  them  by  the  way,  went 
out  to  Him  in  a  rush  of  sympathy  and  com- 
passion. They  asked  Him  to  abide  under  their 
humble  roof  and  to  partake  with  them  of  their 
simple  fare,  because  He  had  demeaned  Himself 
as  He  had  done,  because  of  a  kind  and  human 
feeling. 

Nevertheless,  there  is  truth  in  the  common 
understanding  of  the  petition,  for  whenever  Christ 
becomes  the  guest  He  becomes  the  host.  Be  sure 
that  they  found  it  so.  Thus  we  may  linger  a 
little  on  the  prayer  that  has  gone  up  through  all 
the  generations  from  many  a  believer  who  knows 
the  Christ  more  truly  than  they  did.  They  did 
not  know  fully  that  this  Man  was  a  refuge  from 
the  wind,  a  cover  from  the  tempest.  They  did 
not  know  that  the  wind  and  the  storm  had  driven 
pitilessly  upon  Him.  They  were  walking  at  best 
in  twilight,  waiting,  wondering,  wistful,  praying 
even  when  it  seemed  that  they  were  utterly  un- 
heard. New  glories  were  to  break  upon  them. 
They  were  to  discover  that  their  guest  was  to  be 
their  host  indeed,  that  He  would  in  the  end  take 
them  to  abide  with  Him  in  the  true  courts  of  the 
House  of  God. 


ABIDE  WITH  US  87 

I 

'  Abide  with  us,  for  it  is  toward  evening.'  It 
is  especially  a  prayer  for  those  who  are  old  and 
for  those  who  are  growing  old.  The  evening  of 
life  is  often  a  time  of  gloom  and  chill  and  lone- 
liness. It  is  the  very  grey  November  month  of 
the  year.  The  long  struggle  of  life  has  brought 
low  the  suppliant's  strength.  Broken  by  weari- 
ness, weakened  by  illness,  weighted  with  sorrow, 
and  crushed  with  care,  the  heart  longs  for  the 
Presence  that  will  not  pass  ;  for  the  Strength  that 
is  made  perfect  when  the  vigour  of  nature  fails  ; 
for  the  Love  that  makes  up  for  the  many  loves 
that  are  missing — for  a  while. 

Never,  perhaps,  in  the  history  of  the  world  was 
this  prayer  faltered  out  more  earnestly.  A  high 
sensitiveness  which  our  so-called  civilisation  has 
developed  makes  the  horrors  of  war  even  more 
terrible  than  they  used  to  be.  When  it  is  toward 
evening  with  us  we  have  little  hope  of  living  till 
a  brighter  day  dawns.  All  trouble  is  the  shadow 
of  death.  It  reminds  us  of  it.  It  is  like  it.  And 
it  helps  to  bring  us  toward  it.  Such  security  as 
had  been  painfully  built  up  against  certain  ills 
vanishes  away.  The  provision  made  for  a  few 
quiet   years   at   the   end   is   being  poured   into   a 


38  PRAYER  IN  WAR  TIME 

bottomless  gulf.  So  there  are  many  in  the  even- 
ing of  their  lives  who  arc  perplexed  on  every  side. 
They  have  to  live  through  fightings  without  and 
fears  within,  and  they  hav^  to  watch  day  by  day 
the  gradual  dimming  and  quenching  of  hopes  they 
hardly  wish  to  survive.  They  cannot  control  the 
wild  forces  that  have  broken  loose  in  the  world, 
and  they  do  not  understand  how  they  can  be 
controlled.  The  world  is  too  much  for  them. 
They  are  assailed  by  evil  tidings,  and  every  day 
brings  its  own  share.  What  then  !  Are  the 
people  of  God  forsaken  ?  Nay,  verily,  for  Christ 
abides  with  them,  and  it  will  be  enough  for  us  if 
we  have  the  sense  of  His  fellowship.  He  is  able, 
if  He  cannot  as  yet  dry  all  our  tears,  to  keep 
us  fighting  the  good  fight  of  faith  and  laying  hold 
of  eternal  life.     And  this  is  all  we  ask. 

II 

But,  of  course,  the  first  meaning  of  the  prayer 
was  different.  The  disciples  were  asking  Him  to 
abide  with  them  because  it  was  evening  to  Him. 
It  was  evening  to  them,  but  it  did  not  matter,  for 
they  were  at  home.  He  was  in  worse  case,  for 
He  was  a  stranger,  and  they  never  dreamed  of 
the  resources  that  were  in  His  power. 

So  the  lesson  for  us  is  that  we  must  make  room 


ABIDE  WITH  US  39 

for  Christ.  He  spent  His  life  in  this  world 
seeking  room  and  being  denied  it.  When  He 
deigned  and  consented  to  be  born  there  was  no 
room  for  Him  in  the  inn.  W^hen  He  was  wearily 
seeking  us  He  was  not  always  sure  of  a  roof  to 
cover  Him,  for  He  said,  '  Foxes  have  holes,  and 
the  birds  of  the  air  have  nests,  but  the  Son  of 
Man  hath  not  where  to  lay  His  head.'  He  came 
unto  His  own  and  His  own  received  Him  not. 
It  was  never  His  manner  to  force  His  company 
on  any.  He  made  as  though  He  would  have 
gone  farther,  and  if  the  disciples  had  not  asked 
Him  to  stay  He  would  have  sheltered  Himself 
— who  can  tell  where  ?  In  the  bosom  of  God  ? 
He  still  says,  '  Behold,  I  stand  at  the  door  and 
knock.'  There  is  a  lesson  for  us,  most  pregnant 
and  most  vital,  in  this  tremendous  crisis.  It  is 
that  we  who  trust  Him,  we  who  worship  Him, 
should  see  that  He  has  room  in  our  counsels  and 
in  our  plans,  that  we  should  plead  for  His  fellow- 
ship, that  we  should  submit  ourselves  to  His 
counsels,  that  we  should  take  all  our  cares  and 
all  our  perplexities  and  spread  them  before  the 
Lord.  It  is  for  us,  in  the  midst  of  a  faithless 
and  perverse  generation,  to  testify  that  the  truths 
we  have  preached  are  not  dreams,  that  we  know 
Whom  we  have  believed  and  what  we  have  taken 


40  PRAYER  IN  WAR  TIME 

in  hand,  and  that  we  are  confident  that  He  Who 
has  begun  a  good  work  in  us  wdll  carry  it  on  to  the 
day  of  the  Lord  Jesus. 

We  are  very  far  from  pretending  to  read  the 
mysteries  of  Providence,  or  the  precise  meaning 
of  the  world-situation.  But  two  things  are 
certain. 

1.  Is  it  not  true  that  before  the  war  we  were 
losing  Christ  out  of  our  national  life  ?  A  steady 
drift  was  carrying  us  away  from  our  true  goal. 
We  were  forgetting  God,  and  what  that  means  we 
are  beginning  to  understand.  Christian  had  his 
fight  with  Apollyon  in  a  narrow  passage  in  a 
place  just  beyond  Forgetful  Green.  '  And  indeed,' 
says  he,  '  that  is  the  most  dangerous  place  in  all 
these  parts.'  Christian  ministers  have  been  find- 
ing their  work  more  and  more  difficult  every 
year.  The  attendance  at  places  of  worship,  and 
even  the  numbers  of  Sunday  school  children, 
were  showing  over  all  a  steady  decline.  The 
contempt  for  the  Lord's  Day  seemed  to  spread. 
Professing  Christians  in  eminent  positions  were 
to  be  seen  on  Sundays  on  the  golf  course.  We 
do  not  seek  to  apportion  blame,  and  we  do  not 
forget  for  a  moment  the  staunchness  and  fidelity 
of  many  Christians.  But  still,  it  remains  true 
that   ideals   were   waning.     A   quiet   atheism   was 


ABIDE  WITH  US  41 

the  temper  of  the  times  in  many  circles.  There 
were  portents  of  monstrous  growth.  The  very 
foundation  truths  of  morahty  were  ridiculed  by  a 
cynicism  as  putrid,  profane,  and  heartless  as  any 
that  has  ever  appeared  in  the  world.  Certain 
who  have  the  ear  of  the  public  seemed  to  delight 
in  making  sport  of  the  sweetest  certainties. 
There  was  a  devouring  passion  for  luxury  and 
amusement.  Social  reformers  were  almost  hope- 
less as  they  witnessed  the  pre-occupation  of  the 
young  with  games.  They  were  not  playing  games, 
but  watching  others  play  them.  On  the  part  of 
the  privileged  there  was  a  passionate  resistance 
to  any  limitation.  The  vast  teeming  populations 
were  almost  hopelessly  divided,  and  were  able  in 
consequence  to  make  little  headway.  But  they 
were  seething  with  discontent,  and  it  looked 
sometimes  as  if  our  society  would  be  torn  in 
pieces  by  civil  strife.  A  very  acute  observer  of 
our  time  says  that  the  great  characteristic  of  the 
last  ten  or  twenty  years  was  restlessness.  We 
did  not  find  and  we  did  not  seek  true  rest.  All 
this  means  that  Christ  was  knocking  at  the  door 
in  vain,  as  of  old. 

2.  Can  we  say  that  a  generation  which  was 
going  amain  to  hell  has  been  set  round  again 
towards  heaven  ?     Are  there  any  signs  that  we 


42  PRAYER  IN  WAR  TIME 

are    really    calling    Christ    back    to    our     hearts 
again  ? 

We  vehemently  wish  that  we  could  say  so. 
But  there  are  not  many  reassuring  signs,  though 
there  are  some.  We  believe  that  there  is  a  great 
intensity  of  private  prayer.  We  believe  that 
in  many  quiet  places  disciples  gather  together 
and  pour  out  their  hearts  before  God.  But  in 
many  churches  the  attendance  at  intercession 
meetings  is  most  disappointing.  We  would  not 
bring  a  railing  accusation  against  ministers,  for 
we  believe  the  great  majority  of  them  are  doing 
their  best.  But  there  is  not  that  urgency  and 
intensity  of  prayer  that  we  need  to  see  before  we 
can  be  very  hopeful.  Nor  is  there  the  spirit  of 
humiliation  which  befits  us  in  our  present  state. 
Say  what  we  will,  the  sins  of  the  nation  have  been 
great,  and  it  may  well  be,  as  Sir  David  Beatty 
has  said,  that  we  shall  not  begin  to  gain  victory 
till  we  are  brought  to  our  knees  in  supplication. 
If  it  were  possible  to  see  a  great  turning  of  the 
heart  of  the  nation  towards  God,  we  might  be 
reconciled  to  much  and  look  with  the  greatest 
happiness  to  a  better  world  in  the  future.  It  is 
with  God  that  we  have  to  do.  We  may  multiply 
our  munitions  and  our  soldiers.  We  may  call  in 
new  counsellors  and  leaders,  and  yet  nothing  will 


ABIDE  WITH  US  43 

avail  us  if  we  leave  Christ  out.  He  is  the  Captain 
of  our  salvation.  It  is  under  Him  that  we  must 
attain  victory.  He  must  be  at  the  head  of  our 
ranks  to  lead  us.  Are  we  thus  led  forward  ? 
Are  we  thus  led  on  ? 

There  have  certainly  been  some  things  to  make 
us  very  thankful.  Dr.  Jacks  says  in  a  thoughtful 
essay  that  the  war  has  brought  to  England  a  peace 
of  mind  such  as  she  has  not  possessed  for  genera- 
tions. He  thinks  that  the  mind  of  the  nation  is 
much  calmer  than  it  was  before  the  war.  Be- 
reavement, the  cruel  anxieties,  the  immense 
miseries,  the  grave  uncertainties  of  the  future, 
strike  hard.  But  those  are  calmest  who  are 
making  the  greatest  exertion  and  facing  the 
greatest  sacrifices  for  the  common  cause.  They 
say  that  there  is  something  to  live  for  now.  The 
soldiers  and  sailors  are  blithe  and  brave.  The 
nation  as  a  whole  is  taking  very  quietly  the 
prodigal  expenditure  of  money,  and  the  destruction 
of  the  huge  accumulations  of  which  it  boasted 
itself.  The  money  could  not  be  better  spent 
than  in  preserving  the  cause  of  liberty  and  of 
righteousness. 

Still,  we  need  something  more.  We  need  the 
constant  reference  of  all  our  ways  and  words  and 


44  PRAYER  IN  WAR  TIME 

works  to  God  as  revealed  in  Christ.  Dr.  Jacks 
points  out,  very  rightly,  that  the  destruction  of 
militarism  will  not  save  us.  If  militarism  were 
cast  out  then  there  would  be  a  huge  accession  to 
industrialism,  and  a  fiercer  conflict  than  ever  for 
the  money  produced  by  this  industrialism.  The 
wealthiest  country  in  the  world  and  the  least 
menaced  by  foreign  war,  where  all  classes  have 
the  largest  share  of  this  world's  goods,  is  America. 
And  is  America  at  peace  ?  No,  we  want  some- 
thing more.  We  cannot  live  without  Christ.  If 
Christianity  were  to  die  out  of  the  world,  every 
evil  that  affrights  us  would  start  up  in  strength 
enormously  increased.  There  is  no  hope  for  us 
except  in  humiliation  and  prayer  and  faith. 
Come,  let  us  return  to  the  Lord  ! 


V 
HUMILIATION  A  PART  OF  PRAYER 


HUMILIATION  A  PART  OF  PRAYER 

Published  May  18,  1916 

We  have  read  strange  objections  to  the  appoint- 
ment of  a  Day  of  Humiliation  and  Prayer.  It 
has  been  urged  that,  while  prayer  is  an  undoubted 
privilege  and  duty,  we  have  no  need  to  humiliate 
ourselves.  We  have,  it  is  said,  been  forced  into 
this  war ;  it  is  a  righteous  war  ;  we  have  fought 
it  bravely  ;  it  is  for  the  aggressors  to  humiliate 
themselves,  and  not  for  us. 

Now,  while  we  have  believed,  and  do  believe 
as  intensely  as  any,  that  this  conflict  was  forced 
upon  us,  and  that  we  could  not  in  honour  evade 
it,  and  must  continue  it  with  our  whole  strength 
till  the  goal  is  attained,  we  also  believe  that  we 
have  much  for  which  to  be  proud  and  thankful. 
We  believe  also  that  there  is  much  for  which 
our  portion  is  shame  and  confusion  of  face.  But 
the  central  fact  is  that  there  can  be  no  prayer 
without  humiliation.  Humility,  it  has  been  said, 
is  the  best  friend  of  prayer.  We  may  go  further, 
and  say  that  without  humility  and  the  lowly 
expression  of  humility  there  is  no  prayer.  There 
is  no  true  prayer  that  does  not  include  and  rest 

47 


48  PRAYER  IN  WAR  TIME 

upon  a  prayer  for  pardon,  and  that  prayer  must 
be  offered  to  his  latest  hour  on  earth  by  the  hoHest 
behever  in  the  world. 

I 
Let  us  consider  what  prayer  is.  True  prayer 
realises  the  truth  about  man  and  God.  It  is  not 
tied  to  form,  although  forms  may  be  very  helpful. 
It  is  not  tied  to  places,  though  most  believers  find 
that  one  place  helps  them  to  pour  out  their 
hearts.  It  is  not  even  a  matter  of  words.  Per- 
haps the  deepest  of  all  supplications  are  wordless. 
It  is  above  all  things  a  matter  of  manifest  sincerity 
and  earnestness.  It  is  not  tied  to  any  particular 
mood  of  the  spirit.  We  are  happy  if  we  can  go 
forward  to  our  prayers  in  the  name  of  Christ 
with  a  brave  and  believing  heart.  But  it  often 
happens  that  this  is  the  very  heart  we  need  to 
pray  for,  when  our  courage  has  sunk  and  our 
eyes  are  dim  and  our  voices  are  broken.  We  can 
without  words  tell  our  case  to  the  Lord  Who 
hears  us.  When  all  the  map  of  our  poor  history 
is  spread  before  the  Eyes  that  pity  us  it  will  include 
our  sins,  our  failures,  our  sorrows,  our  hopes,  our 
joys,  our  fears,  and  our  bitter  woes.  If  this  be 
true,  then  certainly  the  avowal  of  sins,,  past  and 
present,  will  include  a  great  part  of  the  supplica- 


HUMILIATION  A  PART  OF  PRAYER      49 

tion.  Sometimes  when  the  recital  is  complete 
there  may  be  but  one  prayer  to  follow  it,  and 
that  prayer  will  be,  '  God  be  merciful  to  me,  a 
sinner.'  There  are  prayers  for  high  days  and 
holidays  and  for  nameless  exaltations  of  the 
spirit,  but  the  everyday  prayer  is  the  prayer  of 
the  publican. 

How  can  it  be  otherwise  ?  A  Puritan  divine 
has  said  that  the  man  who  pleads  his  own  merit 
does  not  pray,  but  simply  demands  his  due.  In 
effect  he  says  to  God,  '  Pay  me  that  Thou  owest.' 
If  that  prayer  is  answered  we  know  what  the 
answer  will  be.  We  do  not  pray  at  all  until  we 
pray  as  penitents.  Prayer  is  never  so  effectual  as 
when  the  heart  is  broken  and  contrite.  There 
never  is  truer  prayer  than  the  prayer  which  is 
salt  with  penitential  tears.  Such  prayer  God 
will  not  despise.  When  the  heart  breaks  w^ith 
repentance  it  often  breaks  the  bars  that  shut  us 
from  life  and  peace,  and  the  whole  being  becomes 
a  prayer.  When  we  feel  that  the  whole  head  is 
sick  and  the  whole  heart  faint,  and  that  there  is 
but  a  step  between  us  and  death  and  nothing  left 
for  us  but  to  plead  the  Precious  Blood,  then  we 
have  effectually  pleaded.  For  none  but  the  guilty 
ever  understand  the  magnificent  charity  of  God. 

There  is  no  true  and  prevailing  prayer  that  does 


50  PRAYER  IN  WAR  TIME 

not  recognise  that  to  sin  against  God  is  the  true 
and  damning  treason.  We  may  sin,  we  have 
sinned,  all  of  us,  foully,  against  our  neighbours, 
and  God  forbid  that  we  should  make  light  of  such 
transgression.  But  to  sin  against  our  neighbours 
is  sin  against  fellow-subjects  of  the  King,  and  it 
is  sin  against  the  King  that  is  of  the  very  essence 
of  sin.  How,  then,  talk  of  disjoining  humiliation 
and  prayer  ?  We  repeat  that  humiliation  is  the 
essence  and  the  groundwork  of  all  prayer  in  the 
name  of  the  Redeemer. 

II 

Since,  then,  confession  of  sins  is  part  of  the 
very  life  of  prayer,  it  becomes  us  earnestly  to 
strive  after  true  devotion  and  reality  in  our 
penitence.  It  may  well  be  feared  that  we  often 
offer  the  petition,  '  Forgive  us  our  trespasses,' 
without  any  adequate  or  sincere  realisation  of 
what  transgression  means  and  of  what  pardon 
means.  In  view  of  days  of  humiliation  it  is  well 
that  we  should  be  frank  with  ourselves.  Con- 
fession is  nothing  unless  it  is  sincere,  deliberate, 
and  offered  up  with  the  full  consent  of  the  heart 
and  mind.     We  see  dangers  in  this  respect. 

In  the  first  place,  there  is  a  terrible  danger  of 
our   confessing  with  great   unction  what  we  are 


HUMILIATION  A  PART  OF  PRAYER      51 

pleased  to  consider  the  sins  of  others.  Who  does 
not  know  it  ?  There  are  Christians  in  opposite 
camps  who  judge  each  other  very  uncharitably. 
At  a  time  like  this  they  are  prone  to  say  that  their 
opponents  are  being  chastised,  and  the  nation  is 
being  chastised,  for  certain  sins  of  which  they 
themselves  are  free.  We  will  not  give  specific 
insitances,  but  every  one  can  supply  them  for 
himself.  There  is  not  a  more  mischievous  phrase 
of  false  theology  than  the  phrase,  '  vicarious 
penitence.'  There  can  be  no  such  thing  as 
vicarious  penitence.  It  is  our  own  sins  that 
we  must  confess  and  deplore.  Part  of  the  sins 
may  be  that  we  have  tamely  and  guiltily  acquiesced 
in  the  continuance  of  temptations  which  have 
wrought  havoc  in  the  land.  No  doubt  this  is 
true.  But  this  acquiescence  is  part  of  our  own 
sin,  and  it  is  for  us  to  confess  it  and  deplore  it 
as  part  of  our  guilt  before  God.  Oh,  how  excel- 
lently ready  we  are  to  see  and  to  acknowledge 
the  sins  of  other  people  !  How  reluctant  we  are 
to  smite  our  own  breasts  !  How  keenly  we  can 
criticise  our  fellow-mortals,  and  how  slow  we  are 
to  see  our  ow^n  manifold  and  grievous  errors  ! 
The  true  humiliation  before  God  is  the  humiliation 
of  every  member  apart,  of  every  family  apart. 
We  are  one.     The  mysterious  solidarity  of  human 


52  PRAYER  IN  WAR  TIME 

life  makes  us  in  a  sense  responsible  for  the  sins  of 
the  body.  Let  us  take  our  failure  to  bear  this 
responsibility  as  part  of  our  own  iniquity,  and  let 
us  confess  it  and  humble  ourselves  before  God 
because  of  it.  But  we  are  not  called  upon  to 
repent,  nor  is  it  possible  for  us  to  repent,  sins  in 
which  we  have  no  share. 

Further,  it  is  necessary  to  say  with  great  frank- 
ness that  our  confession  will  be  utterly  insincere, 
and  therefore  profitless,  if  we  tell  falsehoods 
against  ourselves.  There  is  a  kind  of  abject 
undiscriminating  humility  which  has  no  truth 
behind  it,  and  which  passes  easily  into  the  grossest 
and  most  loathsome  hypocrisy.  More  than  one 
of  our  great  secular  writers  has  held  up  this 
humility  to  a  deserved  scorn.  Again,  we  say,  let 
us  be  real  in  our  confessions  and  confess  nothing 
for  which  we  are  not  responsible,  and  of  which 
we  have  judged  sincerely.  We  must  be  like  the 
Psalmist,  who  humbled  himself  before  God,  but 
would  not  plead  guilty  to  the  false  charges  of 
men.  '  Mine  enemies  speak  evil  of  me,'  he  says, 
but  he  says  also  that  he  has  not  done  that  which 
they  charge  against  him.  So  far  as  their  charges 
are  concerned  he  is  innocent  and  pure.  We  do 
right  to  defend  ourselves,  if  need  be,  against 
slanders.     We  have  enough  to  answer  for,   God 


HUMILIATION  A  PART  OF  PRAYER      53 

knows,  without  adding  to  the  hst  of  our  falls. 
In  our  present  circumstances,  for  example,  we  are 
not  free  to  admit  that  we  desired  war,  or  that  we 
intentionally  provoked  w^ar,  or  that  we  cherished 
enmity  to  our  foes.  We  did  none  of  these  things. 
There  are  enemies  who  bring  such  charges  against 
us,  but  they  are  false  charges.  We  repudiate 
them,  while  at  the  same  time  we  humble  ourselves 
in  penitence  over  the  charges  which  our  own 
hearts  make  against  us. 

Ill 

We  propose  to  return  to  this  subject,  for  we 
are  very  deeply  convinced  that  if  we  are  to  emerge 
victorious  from  our  ordeal,  if  we  are  to  see  an 
end  of  this  horrible  anarchy,  we  must  far  more 
seriously  as  a  nation  and  as  individuals  give  our- 
selves to  prayer.  Prayers  win  great  battles.  He 
who  prays  well,  fights  well.  It  is  the  impressive 
and  reiterated  teaching  of  Scripture  that  asking 
is  the  law  of  the  Kingdom.  Without  asking  we 
can  accomplish  nothing.  The  rule  is  not  relaxed 
even  for  the  Heir  of  all  things.  To  the  Son  He 
saith,  '  Ask  of  Me,  and  I  will  give  Thee  the 
heathen^  for  Thine  inheritance  and  the  uttermost 
part  of  the  earth  for  Thy  possession.'  We,  too, 
must    ask,    and    we   must    go    on    asking.      It    is 


54  PRAYER  IN  WAR  TIME 

perseverance  that  is  crowned.  There  are  so  many 
things  to  pray  for,  so  many  things  to  ask  for  our- 
selves and  others.  The  Son  accepted  the  law 
and  asked,  and  we  must  arm  ourselves  with  the 
same  mind  if  we  are  to  be  victorious.  We  ask 
for  victory,  and  we  do  not  ask  with  bated  breath. 
Anything  that  concerns  the  kingdom  of  Christ 
and  the  glory  of  God  we  may  pray  for,  and  we  may 
be  sure  that  in  God's  good  time  it  will  come. 
After  each  petition  in  the  Lord's  Prayer  we  do 
not  need  to  sa}',  '  Not  my  will,  but  Thine  be 
done.'  We  ask  for  victory,  the  victory  for 
justice,  the  victory  for  freedom,  the  victory  for 
humanity.  That  will  come,  for  God  is  behind  the 
fighters  in  that  cause.  But  whether  He  will 
accomplish  this  victory  by  means  of  us  who  are 
fighting  is  another  thing.  If  we  do  not  ask,  if  we 
are  careless  and  prayerless,  it  may  please  Him  to 
cast  us  off  for  our  unworthiness  and  to  win  His 
victory  through  others.  We  must,  as  the  awful 
drama  unfolds  itself,  betake  ourselves  more  and 
more  to  prayer.  If  we  do  we  shall  see  the  morning 
light  of  salvation.  Christ  will  break  forth  upon 
us  all  at  once  in  His  holiness  and  love.  But 
before  that  can  be  we  must  take  Him  into  our  life 
and  every  incident  of  our  life.  As  one  has  said, 
'  Before  every  action  we  must  breathe  a  prayer, 


HUMILIATION  A  PART  OF  PRAYER      55 

and  during  every  action  we  must  breathe  a  prayer, 
and  after  every  action  we  must  breathe  a  prayer.' 
But  how  far  we  are  from  this  !  How  hard  may 
be  the  disciphne  through  which  the  loving  Father 
must  lead  us  ere  the  end  is  reached.  The  very 
beginning  of  our  hope  is  in  humiliation  before 
God.  Thus  shall  we  come  to  know  ourselves. 
But  how  many  bands  must  be  snapped  ere  we  are 
free  indeed  ! 


VI 
PRAY  WITHOUT  CEASING 


PRAY  WITHOUT  CEASING 

Published  June  15,  1916 

A  WELL-KNOWN  scholar,  writing  of  the  great 
decrease  in  congregations  at  intercession  services, 
says  :  '  That  rush  has  long  ago  ceased,  and  of 
those  who  persevere  how  many  are  really  depre- 
cating on  behalf  of  some  loved  ones  the  vengeance 
of  a  God  of  wrath  !  How  many  still  pray  to  a 
God  of  Love,  but  do  so  in  doubt  rather  than  in 
trust !  '  A  clergyman  replies  that  his  experience 
shows  him  that  it  is  those  whose  prayers  were 
little  more  than  an  effort  to  avert  ill-luck  who 
have  fallen  off.  '  Among  those  who  have  re- 
mained, be  they  many  or  few,  the  most  superficial 
observer  can  hardly  help  noticing  a  great  deepen- 
ing of  real  spirituality  and  power.' 

We  know  how  easy  it  is  to  take  dark  views  of 
this  subject.  We  remind  ourselves  that  there  are 
apparently  but  few  who  believe  in  prayer  and 
practise  it.  When  there  is  talk  of  a  day  of 
humiliation  and  prayer  there  are  many  Christians 
who  say  that  there  will  be  no  general  prayer. 
They  tell  us  that  there  are  very  many  who  think 
that  prayer  is  of  no  use.     There  are  those  who 


60  PRAYER  IN  WAR  TIME 

believe  that  prayer  has  no  effect  on  any  one  but 
the  offerer.  A  defiant  or  a  careless  silence,  they 
say,  will  seal  millions  of  lips.  Also,  they  tell 
us  that  not  a  tenth  of  those  who  repeat  prayers 
will  offer  them  in  faith,  and  that  there  will  be 
very  little  of  that  sincere  and  frank  confession 
which  is  an  essential  part  of  prayer. 

However  this  may  be,  the  duty  of  believers 
remains  clear.  To  them  it  is  written,  '  Ye  shall 
ask.'  Whatever  other  people  do  or  fail  to  do, 
'  ye  shall  ask.'  If  others  fail  ye  shall  continue. 
'  Ye  shall  ask.'  If  others  will  neither  ask  nor 
seek  nor  knock,  ye  shall  do  so.  The  one  hope  for 
a  country  lies  in  the  true  believers  who  dwell 
therein,  and,  be  they  many  or  few,  these  believers 
will  pray  and,  if  it  please  God,  save  their  fellows. 
The  intercessors  left  to  us  will  prevail.  They 
will  not  be  confused  by  sophisms  about  the  laws 
of  nature,  and  miracles,  and  the  divine  decrees. 
They  will  give  heed  to  the  inward  and  outward 
voices  that  summon  them  to  the  throne  of  grace. 
The  faith  that  has  overhung  and  surrounded  their 
souls  as  a  dwelling  and  a  refuge  will  not  be  pulled 
to  pieces.  For  our  own  part,  we  believe  that 
there  is  more  prayer  in  the  land  and  on  the  field 
than  ever  there  was  in  the  history  of  the  world. 
It  is  sorely  needed,  and  we  should  hasten  the  end 


PRAY  WITHOUT  CEASING  61 

of  this  weary  and  awful  strife  if  we  reinforced  it. 
We  need  men  and  women  who  will  pray,  and  we 
are  finding  them. 

Now  that  we  are  in  this  pass  we  need  the  masters 
in  the  love  of  God,  and  we  need  also  the  frailest, 
the  humblest,  the  most  ignorant.  An  American 
writer  has  said  that  the  supreme  necessity  of  the 
Church  and  the  world  is  a  company  of  great 
Pray-ers.  It  is  true.  But  we  want,  in  addition 
to  the  great  Pray-ers,  those  who  have  just  begun, 
who  stammer  at  their  first  attempt,  who  can 
hardly,  if  at  all,  find  words  in  which  to  express  the 
yearning  that  fills  their  souls.  To  the  ranks  of 
Pray-ers  there  have  been  added  many  who  never 
prayed  before,  and  who  are  now  in  the  face  of 
danger,  of  death,  of  bereavement.  No  matter 
how  broken  their  supplication  has  been,  it  has 
been  noted  and  announced  on  high — '  Behold, 
he  prayeth.'  Well  may  we  study  the  command- 
ment, '  Pray  without  ceasing,'  at  this  time  when 
everything  often  seems  to  be  sinking  from  under 
us,  and  our  sweetest  cups  are  full  of  bitterness. 

I 

There  are,  first,  the  great  and  prolonged  wrest- 
lings with  God  in  desperate  circumstances.  We 
do  not  believe  that  many  Christians  pass  through 


62  PRAYER  IN  WAR  TIME 

life  without  one  experience  at  least  parallel  with 
that  of  Jacob's  wTestling  with  the  Angel  of  the 
Great  Counsel.  We  might  reverently  think  also 
of  Gethsemane  and  our  Lord's  great  Agony  there. 
But  there  are  shadows  in  Gethsemane  which 
will  never  pass  away  from  mortal  eyes.  We  shall 
never  know,  as  Christ  did,  what  it  is  to  be  afflicted 
with  all  the  waves  of  God.  Let  us  rather,  then, 
think  of  Jacob,  a  man  of  like  passions  with  our- 
selves. Jacob  was  left  alone,  and  there  wrestled 
a  man  with  him  until  the  break  of  the  day.  This 
is  written  for  our  admonition,  upon  whom  the  ends 
of  the  world  are  come.  In  such  wrestlings  the 
heart  must  be  alone,  and  the  world  must  be  in 
night.  '  Tell  me,  I  pray  Thee,  Thy  name,'  was  the 
pleading  of  the  supplicant.  And  He  said,  '  Where- 
fore is  it  that  thou  dost  ask  after  My  name  ?  ' 
Wherefore  did  he  ask  ?  Because  for  him  and  those 
who  come  after  him,  there  comes  an  hour  when 
the  mystery,  hid  from  ages  and  generations,  must 
lift  a  little.  The  answer  comes,  but  it  never 
leaves  the  man  again  as  he  was.  From  that  time 
forward  Jacob  halted.  All  believers  halt  after 
such  experiences.  There  must  be  some  new 
crucifixion  of  the  flesh  and  its  affections  and  lusts. 
That  crucifixion  will  leave  its  scars  on  the  body 
and  on  the  soul.     There  must  be  another  halting 


PRAY  WITHOUT  CEASING  68 

— a  halting  before  temptation.  The  victorious 
wrestler  must  no  longer  be  caught  by  the  lures  of 
the  world.  They  must  lose  their  power  to  interest, 
to  excite  desire,  to  exact  compliance.  Notwith- 
standing, '  I  will  not  let  Thee  go  except  Thou  bless 
me.'  This  is  the  spirit  in  which  such  struggles 
must  be  continued  and  ended.  We  must  go  on 
till  we  have  obtained  the  blessing,  let  the  time  be 
never  so  long,  let  the  night  be  never  so  dark. 

II 

There  are  great  believers  who  not  only  have 
regular  times  for  prayer  but  are  also  able  to  pray 
for  prolonged  periods.  We  read  in  the  lives  of  the 
saints  about  their  praying  for  hours  every  day. 
We  read  in  the  life  of  the  Master  that  after  His 
sultry  noonday  teaching  He  went  to  the  moun- 
tains in  the  midnight  that  He  might  pray  to 
God.  He  needed  prayer,  though  it  is  strange  for 
us  to  think  so.  He  had  not  to  plead  in  tears  and 
shame,  as  is  our  lot  so  often.  He  had  not  to  confess 
the  sins  of  the  day.  He  had  never  to  weep  before 
God  because  of  some  great  transgression.  He 
never  had  to  wage  our  fight  to  subdue  a  sinful 
and  rebellious  nature.  The  prince  of  this  world 
came  and  had  nothing  in  Him.  And  yet  He  was 
the  greatest  of  Pray-ers,  and  His  disciples  nevw. 


64  PRAYER  IN  WAR  TIME 

so  far  as  we  know,  said,  '  Lord,  teach  us  how  to 
preach,'  but  they  said,  '  Lord,  teach  us  how  to 
pray.' 

Those  scenes  of  extraordinary  devotion  are 
very  wonderful.  Our  Lord  sought  the  sohtude 
and  silence  of  the  mountain.  Amid  the  hills, 
and  with  the  long  shadows  cast  by  the  moonlight 
on  the  sward,  in  the  sacred  house  and  temple  of 
God  He  bowed  Himself.  There  was  none  but 
God  to  hear  Him  as  He  prayed  aloud,  though 
all  the  clamour  of  the  world  was  stilled. 

There  have  been  those  who,  up  to  their  powers, 
live  after  the  same  manner.  They  can  go  on  for 
hours  praying  with  profit.  Perhaps  there  are 
very  few  of  us  who  would  be  equal  to  the  privilege, 
and  yet  it  has  been  wisely  suggested  that  we  do 
not  know  what  we  might  accomplish  for  ourselves 
and  for  others  by  a  night  of  prayer.  We  do  not 
know  what  a  difference  it  might  make.  We  do 
not  know  how  far  that  night  might  shine  out 
gloriously  amid  these  weary  earth-bound  years. 
There  may  be  providential  indications  of  the  times 
we  should  set  apart  for  this  kind  of  supplication — 
perhaps  before  we  make  some  great  decision, 
perhaps  before  the  blow  strikes  us  which  in  our 
hearts  we  know  is  most  surely  coming.  We  might 
then  do  wisely  and  well  to  continue  all  night  in 


PRAY  WITHOUT  CEASING  65 

prayer  to  God.  We  know  that  those  who  have 
done  such  things  have  great  power.  They  ask 
what  they  will  and  it  is  done  unto  them.  Some 
few  have  possessed  and  possess  this  sacred  awful 
gift. 

Ill 

But  w^e  desire  chiefly  to  encourage  those  for 
whom  such  endeavours  after  God  are  too  hard. 
The  Scriptures  deal  very  graciously  with  those 
for  whom  prayer  is  difficult.  They  give  great 
encouragement  to  those  who  can  only  send  up 
their  supplications  framed  in  a  few^  words.  Of 
this  kind  was  the  prayer  of  Nehemiah,  offered 
between  a  question  from  his  King  and  his  answer. 
'  So  I  prayed  to  the  God  of  heaven.'  This  has 
been  called  ejaculatory  prayer,  that  is,  prayer 
which  hurls  a  dart — directs  it,  and  is  done.  Such 
prayers  are  possible  to  all  of  us  and  in  all  circum- 
stances. We  can  turn  to  God  at  all  times  and  in 
all  places,  at  the  least  danger,  and  in  the  slightest 
temptation.  As  St.  Bernard  says  :  '  This  kind  of 
prayer  needs  no  church,  no  altar,  no  sacrament.' 
It  may  be  offered  in  silence  and  in  speech,  in 
labour  and  in  rest.  It  may  be  uttered  in  every 
nook  and  angle  of  space,  in  every  fragment  and 
mite  of  time.     We  do  well  to  appoint  seasons  for 


66  PRAYER  IN  WAR  TIME 

prayer  and  to  keep  them.  But  in  addition  to  this 
we  should  go  through  our  work  constantly  pray- 
ing. We  should  be  saying,  '  Lord,  help  me,' 
'  Lord,  bless  me,'  '  Lord,  keep  me,'  '  Lord, 
forgive  me.'  At  every  turn  this  dart  may  be 
thrown  upward.  Throw  it  when  you  are  handling 
the  letter  which  may  contain  fatal  news.  Throw 
it  when  the  image  of  some  loved  one  grows  clear 
to  your  mind.  Throw  it  when  you  are  sorely 
tempted  to  passion  or  pride  or  despair.  '  Lord, 
remember  me  when  Thou  comest  into  Thy  king- 
dom.' That  is  an  ejaculatory  prayer.  '  Give 
Thy  poor,  blind,  wandering  servant  wisdom,  give 
him  the  key  to  this  lock  ' — is  a  prayer  which  is 
soon  offered  in  the  sore  perplexities  which  more 
or  less  trouble  us  all.  Ejaculatory  prayer  is 
supremely  the  prayer  for  the  battlefield.  There 
may  be  no  time  and  no  opportunity  for  stated 
prayer,  but  a  man  in  need  can  concentrate  every- 
thing into  one  great  call  to  the  mighty  God. 

So  we  would  have  this  prayer  more  and  more 
encouraged,  more  and  more  studied.  Such  prayer 
always  brings  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  What 
more  do  we  need  ?  He  is  the  Spirit  of  Wisdom, 
of  Power,  of  Purity,  and  of  Love.  Does  not  this 
cover  the  whole  of  our  needs  ?  Prayer  is  nothing 
unless  it  brings  response.     It  never  fails  to  bring 


PRAY  WITHOUT  CEASING  67 

it.     It  brings  it  more  and  more  surely  as  we  put 
growing  faith  and  fervour  in  the  suppHcation. 

And  so  we  come  to  see  that  true  prayer  should 
be  the  use  and  constant  nature  of  all  believers 
from  the  weakest  to  the  strongest.  It  is  so  with 
some  who  have  been  privileged.  They  open  the 
day  with  prayer.  Prayer  surrounds  them  like  an 
atmosphere  through  the  hours  of  toil  and  rest. 
The  last  conscious  moments  before  sleep  are  spent 
in  praying.  Sometimes  they  even  dream  of 
prayer,  and  they  say,  '  When  I  am  awake  I  am 
still  with  Thee.'  '  Still  with  Thee.'  That  is  the 
answer  to  prayer.  Still  with  Thee,  whatever  the 
earthly  circumstances  may  be — for  God's  dying 
people  smile  up  at  Him  even  when  He  slays  them. 
Still  with  Thee,  and  all  is  well.  Wherefore  it  is 
written,  '  Pray  without  ceasing.' 


VII 
BUT  RATHER  GIVING  OF  THANKS ' 


*BUT  RATHER  GIVING  OF  THANKS' 

Published  June  22,  1916 

Thanksgiving  is  necessary  for  the  completeness 
of  prayer — as  necessary  as  humiliation. 

But  often  it  is  very  hard  to  give  thanks.  When 
our  lives  are  cut  in  two  by  a  great  grief — a  grief 
which  we  know  can  never  be  got  over  in  this  life 
— ^then  it  is  hard  to  give  thanks.  Never  was  this 
experience  so  common  in  our  land  as  it  is  to-day. 

We  take  from  the  books  that  lie  nearest  to  our 
hands  two  examples.  In  a  very  moving  book 
newly  published,  Boy  of  My  Heart,  we  read  this  : 

'  My  husband  comes  along.  There  is  something 
v^ery  odd  about  his  step.  And  his  face  looks 
changed  somehow ;  sharpened  in  feature  and 
greyish  white. 

'  "  How  true  it  is  that  electric  light  sometimes 
makes  people  look  a  dreadful  colour  !  "  I  think 
as  he  comes  nearer  to  me. 

'  I  ran  forward  then  to  meet  him. 

'  "  ^Vhere  is  Roland  ?  Isn't  he  here  ?  I  thought 
I  heard  him  come." 

'  And  then  for  the  first  time  I  noticed  that  the 

71 


72  PRAYER  IN  WAR  TIME 

boy's  father  had  a  bit  of  pinkish  paper  crushed  up 
in  his  hand. 

*  "  Is  that  a  telegram  ?  "  I  cried  eagerly,  putting 
out  my  own  hand.  "  Oh,  give  it  to  me  !  What 
does  it  say  ?     Isn't  he  coming  to-night  ?  " 

'  One  of  my  husband's  arms  was  put  quietly 
aroimd  me. 

'  "  No.  It 's  no  good  our  waiting  for  him  any 
longer.  He  '11  never  come  any  more.  He  's  dead. 
He  was  badly  wounded  on  Wednesday  at  mid- 
night, and  he  died  on  Thursday." 

'  For  minutes  that  were  like  years  the  world 
became  to  me  a  shapeless  horror  of  greyness  in 
which  there  was  no  beginning  and  no  end,  no  light 
and  no  sound.  I  did  not  know  anything  except 
that  I  had  to  put  out  my  hand  and  catch  at  some- 
thing, with  an  animal  instinct  to  steady  myself  so 
that  I  might  not  fall.  And  then,  through  the 
rolling,  blinding  waves  of  mist,  there  came  to  me 
suddenly  the  old  childish  cry  : 

'  "  Come  and  see  me  in  bed,  mother  !  " 

'  And  I  heard  myself  answering  aloud  : 

'  "  Yes,  boy  of  my  heart,  I  will  come.  As  soon 
as  the  war  is  over  I  will  come  and  see  you  in  bed 
— in  your  bed  under  French  grass.  And  I  will 
say  good-night  to  you — there — kneeling  by  your 
side — as  I  have  always  done." 


'  BUT  RATHER  GIVING  OF  THANKS '  73 

'  *'  Good-night ! 

Though  Life  and  all  take  flight. 
Never  Good-bye  ! "  ' 

Another  and  lesser  though  very  real  sorrow  of 
these  days,  more  even  than  of  other  days,  is  truly 
described  by  a  well-known  novelist : 

A  retired  ship's  captain  in  a  Suffolk  village  has 
during  fifty -five  years  saved  something  like  £4000. 
He  has  put  it  into  the  local  bank,  and  the  bank 
suddenly  breaks.  A  crowd  has  gathered  round 
the  building  and  he  joins  them,  with  his  rugged, 
sun-burnt  face  as  grey  as  ashes. 

'  "  Mates,"  he  said,  ''  what  is  it  ?  " 

'  "  Merton's  is  broke — Merton's  is  broke  !  " 
they  answered,  clearing  a  way  for  him  to  read  the 
notice  for  himself.  In  Somarsh  Captain  Bontnor 
was  considered  quite  a  scholar.  As  such  he  might, 
perhaps,  have  deciphered  the  clerkly  handwriting 
in  a  shorter  time  than  he  now  required,  but  on  the 
East  Coast  a  reputation  is  not  easily  shaken. 

'  They  waited  for  the  verdict  in  silence.  After 
five  minutes  he  turned  round  and  his  face  gave 
some  of  them  a  shock.  His  kindly  blue  eyes  had 
a  painfully  puzzled,  incompetent  look. 

'  "  Yes,  mates,"  he  said,  falling  back  into  his 
old  seafaring  vernacular,  forgetful  of  his  best  suit. 
"  Yes,  shipmates,  as  far  as  I  rightly  understand  it. 


74  PRAYER  IN  WAR  TIME 

the  bank  's  broken,  and  there 's  some  of  us  that 's 
rumed  men." 

'  He  stood  for  a  moment  looking  straight  in  front 
of  him— looking  very  old  and  not  quite  fit  for  life's 
battle.     Then  he  moved  away. 

'  "  I  '11  just  go  and  tell  my  niece,"  he  said. 

'  They  watched  him  stump  away — sturdy,  un- 
broken, upright — still  a  man. 

'"  It 's  a  hard  end  to  a  hard  life,"  said  the  old 
woman  who  had  suggested  hope.' 

God  does  not  ask  us  to  behave  as  if  our  agony 
did  not  exist.  When  we  are  down  in  the  new  dust 
of  a  sudden  blow  He  will  hear  our  prayers  though 
they  are  very  imperfect.  Chastisement  for  the 
present  is  not  joyous  but  grievous.  It  is  enough 
if  we  can  say,  '  It  is  the  Lord,  let  Him  do  what 
seemeth  Him  good.'  It  is  enough  if  we  can  say, 
'  I  was  dumb,  I  opened  not  my  mouth,  because 
Thou  didst  it.'  Some  may  rise  higher  than  that 
and  say  with  Bunyan,  '  I  felt  the  bottom  and  it 
was  good  ' — firm  rock  from  shore  to  shore.  It  will 
be  very  much  in  the  circumstances,  however,  if  we 
can  speak  to  each  other  softly  of  a  hope. 

I 

Nevertheless,  the  pattern  shown  us  in  the  Mount 
is   that   not   only   of  resigned   submission   but   of 


'BUT  RATHER  GIVING  OF  THANKS'  75 

thankful  submission.  Said  one  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, '  I  will  bless  the  Lord  at  all  times.'  Said 
another  in  the  New  Testament,  '  In  everything 
give  thanks.'  It  is  not  characteristic  of  human 
nature  to  be  very  thankful  towards  God.  When 
things  go  well  with  us  we  very  speedily  forget 
what  we  owe,  and  imagine  that  our  own  hand  and 
brain  have  brought  us  to  the  position  we  occupy. 
In  any  case,  it  is  easy  to  be  grateful  under  blue 
skies.  Any  mill  will  grind  when  the  wind  blows. 
The  times  perhaps  when  we  are  spontaneously 
most  grateful  are  those  after  we  have  escaped 
some  great  danger  or  have  been  delivered  from 
some  overwhelming  fear.  Then  we  are  disposed 
to  fall  on  our  knees  and  bless  God.  We  may 
even  smile  and  weep  to  God's  praise.  But  these 
in  the  normal  life  are  not  frequent  experiences. 

II 

But  Christianity  points  us  on  to  giving  thanks 
in  everything,  to  blessing  the  Lord  at  all  times. 
W^e  are  to  bless  Him  in  all  winds  and  weathers. 
We  are  to  praise  Him  for  losses  and  for  pains. 
Oh,  how  hard  it  is  to  obey !  Martyrs  have 
triumphed  gloriously.  The  Three  Children  in  the 
fiery  furnace  cried  triumphantly,  '  O  all  ye  works 
of  the  Lord,  praise  Him  and  magnify  Him  for 


76  PRAYER  IN  WAR  TIME 

ever.'  But  in  all  our  lives  small  things  to  every 
one  but  ourselves  count  for  very  much.  Take 
the  frequent,  the  very  frequent,  experience  of 
disappointment.  Most  people  are  silent  about 
their  disappointments,  and  so  they  bulk  more 
largely  in  our  thoughts  than  in  our  speech.  But 
think  of  what  you  know.  Think  of  the  heart  set 
upon  some  particular  blessing  with  its  whole  force. 
Think  of  how  the  heart  looks  and  waits  and  works, 
with  the  one  aim.  Think  of  the  happy  days  when 
there  seems  good  hope  of  winning.  Then  think  of 
what  it  is  to  lose  sight  gradually  of  the  prize,  to 
see  it  farther  and  farther  off,  then  finally  to  lose 
it  altogether.  The  faithful  in  such  circumstances 
will  school  themselves  to  accept  their  defeat. 
They  will  trust  in  God  and  believe  that  it  was 
best  for  them  that  they  should  not  attain  to  what 
they  coveted.  It  is  hard,  however,  to  come  to 
this. 

Then  how  painful  is  a  long,  long  suspense, 
while  we  watch  by  the  sick-beds  of  the  loved  ones 
and  every  day  see  that  the  strength  is  ebbing  and 
the  eye  growing  dimmer.  It  is  not  easy  to  keep 
on  blessing  God.  In  the  November  of  the  human 
spirit,  w^hen  all  is  cloudy  and  chilly,  how  hard  is  it 
to  say  with  a  resolute  heart,  '  I  will  bless  the  Lord 
now  and  at  all  times.'     We  are  to  give  thanks  in 


'  BUT  RATHER  GIVING  OF  THANKS '   77 

everything,  not  after  everything,  but  in  everything 
— in  the  very  moment  of  the  intensest  pressure 
of  our  pain. 

Ill 

But  surely,  however,  the  individual  attitude  of 
the  believer  should  be  one  of  thanksgiving. 
'  Thanks  be  to  God  for  His  unspeakable  gift.' 
All  our  assurance  is  furnished  and  all  our  need 
supplied  from  the  Cross  of  Calvary.  It  was  pro- 
phesied by  them  of  old  time  that  the  Christ  would 
destroy  in  this  mountain  the  face  of  the  covering 
cast  over  all  people,  and  the  veil  that  is  spread 
over  all  nations.  But  often  we  say,  How  can 
these  things  be  ?  Oh,  what  a  covering  this  has 
been  !  What  mysterious  grief,  what  unspeakable 
sorrow,  what  heavy  doubts  has  the  world  passed 
through  !  The  riddles  and  the  mysteries  have 
puzzled  and  perplexed  us  till  we  were  often  in 
despair.  For  mystery  is  hard  to  bear  between 
those  who  love  one  another.  They  cannot  endure 
it.  They  are  grieved  by  it,  vexed  by  it,  till  they 
begin  to  think  there  must  be  a  failure  of  love. 
Well,  we  are  not  come  to  the  end  of  mystery, 
though  we  soon  shall.  But  the  mystery  is  not 
what  it  used  to  be,  since  the  day  when  the  veil 
of  the   temple   was   rent   in   twain.     There   is   so 


78  PRAYER  IN  WAR  TIME 

much  light  that  the  darkness  is  endurable.  The 
appeal  to  faith  is  irresistible,  and  the  sad  heart 
hears  it.  The  day  is  not  far  off  when  we  shall 
have  fought  our  last  battle  of  grief  and  fear,  and 
then  we  shall  see  no  longer  in  a  glass  darkly  but 
face  to  face.  Meanwhile  we  are  content  to  have, 
not  merely  our  own  dim  reading  of  God,  but  the 
glory  of  God  in  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ. 

Also  we  possess  the  past  with  its  treasures. 
The  kindness  of  youth,  the  helpfvil  love  and  holy 
example  that  were  given  to  us  to  succour  us,  the 
disclosures  made  to  us  from  the  beginning  of  the 
true  kingly  character  of  the  Christian — how  many 
are  these  benefits  of  the  Lord.  We  cannot  re- 
count them.  For  the  means  of  grace  and  the 
hope  of  glory  we  are  to  be  thankful.  W^e  are  to  be 
thankful  because  the  supernatural  life  abides  in 
us,  that  life  which  seems  sometimes  on  the  very 
point  of  dying  and  yet  does  not  die.  It  is  best 
that  our  belief  in  the  future  world  should  not  be 
a  faith  that  helps  us  on  special  occasions,  but  a 
calm  and  settled  habit  of  the  soul.  It  is  well  if 
we  are  driven  to  this  assurance  by  some  great 
sorrow.  But  it  is  better  that  we  should  nourish 
the  hope  and  the  love  and  the  faith  that  looks 
beyond  the  grave,  and  know  that  many  battles 
are  not  decided  here  and  now. 


'BUT  RATHER  GIVING  OF  THANKS'   79 

IV 

Let  us  give  thanks  also  in  this  war.  It  is  a 
stupendous  catastrophe,  and  yet  the  hand  of 
God  is  in  it.  We  have  cause  to  give  God  our  poor 
thanks  for  wakening  us  to  reahty,  for  many  of  us 
feel  that  we  have  played  at  life  till  now.  We 
thank  God  for  the  miracles  of  mercy  and  deliver- 
ance which  He  has  vouchsafed.  We  thank  Him 
for  the  unity  of  our  nation.  We  thank  Him  for 
the  heroism  of  our  soldiers.  We  thank  Him  for 
those  who  are  facing  death  fearlessly  with  the  odds 
against  them,  for  those  who  have  taken  duty  as 
their  guiding  light  and  have  thrown  their  precious 
lives  with  no  niggard  hand  into  the  balance.  As 
for  those  who  have  already  given  their  lives,  we 
remember  continually  the  saying  of  the  saint — 
'  I  would  lament  for  you  if  I  dared.' 

Nor  in  the  darkest  days  has  the  nation  ever 
lost  hope.  We  have  had  our  heavy  reverses, 
and  we  have  rallied  from  them  to  carry  on  the 
fight,  and  so  shall  to  the  end. 

But  to  interpret  the  ways  of  God  is  too  hard 
for  us.  All  will  be  clear  when  the  solemn  thanks- 
giving of  the  redeemed  to  God  winds  up  the 
drama  of  human  history. 


VIII 
THE  HAND  OF  GOD  IN  JUDGMENT 


THE  HAND  OF  GOD  IN  JUDGMENT 

Published  July  6,  1916 

Does  God  send  judgments  to  the  nation  ?  Does 
God  send  judgments  to  the  individual  ?  After 
we  have  used  all  the  lights  we  have,  and  all  the 
lights  God  sends  us  in  revelation,  the  problem 
remains  full  of  mystery.  We  can  faintly  trace 
the  purposes  that  are  being  accomplished,  but  we 
can  do  no  more,  and  when  we  decide,  as  we  must 
decide,  on  an  affirmative  answer,  we  are  encoun- 
tered by  the  greatest  perils  and  by  the  strongest 
temptations  to  pride  and  to  uncharitableness. 

George  Macdonald,  in  his  fine  book  Alec 
Forbes,  has  drawn  for  us  the  picture  of  the  most 
lovable  among  all  his  heroines,  Annie  Anderson. 
Those  who  have  read  the  book  will  never  forget 
Annie's  walk  by  the  Wan  Water  to  the  old  church- 
yard where  her  father's  body  had  been  laid  to 
rest.  She  could  not  trace  the  grave,  for  no  stone 
marked  the  spot  where  he  sank  in  this  broken 
earthy  sea.  There  was  no  church  and  there  was 
none  to  remember  the  building.  It  seemed  as  if 
the  churchyard  had  swallowed  the  church,  as  the 
heavenly  light  shall  one  day  swallow  the  sun  and 


84  PRAYER  IN  WAR  TIME 

moon.  The  dead  lay  quietly.  There  were  no 
fears  of  the  future  to  torment  them,  no  blank 
falling  suddenly  upon  the  days.  But  even  to  that 
peaceful  country  there  came  the  storms  of  life. 
Dr.  Macdonald  recalls  an  actual  incident,  the 
rising  of  the  great  and  destructive  flood  in  that 
land.  The  rivers  grew  and  ruled  over  everything 
in  a  wild,  waste,  foaming  water.  The  rain  fell  as 
if  a  waterspout  had  broken  overhead.  It  kept 
pouring  out  of  the  thick  night  while  the  streams 
went  rushing  by.  Annie  Anderson's  life  was  very 
nearly  lost,  but  her  deliverance  came  when  none 
expected  it.  It  was  thought  that  she  was  dead, 
and  the  miserable  hypocrite  with  whom  she  lived 
said  to  his  children,  'Bairns,  Annie  Anderson's 
droont.  Ay,  she 's  droont,'  he  continued,  as 
they  stared  at  him  with  frightened  faces.  '  The 
Almichty  's  ta'en  vengeance  upon  her  for  her 
disobedience,  and  for  brackin'  the  Sawbath.  See 
what  ye  '11  come  to,  bairns,  gin  ye  tak  up  wi'  ill 
loons,  and  dinna  min'  what 's  said  to  ye.  She  's 
come  to  an  ill  hinner-en'  !  ' 

The  people  of  the  neighbourhood  were  moved  to 
a  study  of  the  prophecies  : 

'  Those  who  read  their  Bibles,  of  whom  there 
were  many  in  that  region,  took  to  reading  the 
prophecies,  all  the  prophecies,  and  scarcely  any- 


THE  HAND  OF  GOD  IN  JUDGMENT  85 

thing  but  the  prophecies.  Upon  these  every  man, 
either  for  himself  or  following  in  the  track  of  his 
spiritual  instructor,  exercised  his  individual  powers 
of  interpretation,  whose  fecundity  did  not  alto- 
gether depend  upon  the  amount  of  historical 
knowledge.  But  whatever  was  known,  whether 
about  ancient  Assyria  or  modern  Tahiti,  found 
its  theoretic  place.  Of  course,  the  Church  of 
Rome  had  her  due  share  of  the  application  from  all 
parties  ;  but  neither  the  Church  of  England,  the 
Church  of  Scotland,  nor  either  of  the  dissenting 
sects,  went  without  its  portion  freely  dealt,  each 
of  the  last  finding  something  that  applied  to  all 
the  rest.  There  were  some,  however,  who  cared 
less  for  such  modes,  and,  themselves  given  to  a 
daily  fight  with  anti-christ  in  their  own  hearts, 
sought — for  they,  too,  read  the  prophecies — to  fix 
their  reference  on  certain  sins,  and  certain  persons 
classed  according  to  these  their  sins.  With  a 
burning  desire  for  the  safety  of  their  neighbours, 
they  took  upon  them  the  strongest  words  of  rebuke 
and  condemnation,  so  that  one  might  have  thought 
they  were  revelling  in  the  idea  of  the  vengeance 
at  hand,  instead  of  striving  for  the  rescue  of  their 
neighbours  from  the  wrath  to  come.' 

Many  of  us  are  like  the  people  in  the  little  town 
of  Glamerton  these  many  years  ago. 


86  PRAYER  IN  WAR  TIME 

I 

It  is  vain  for  us  to  attempt  the  problem  of  the 
origin  of  evil.  All  the  thoughts  of  men  are  con- 
sumed in  that  burning  fiery  furnace.  Some  things, 
however,  we  must  believe  or  die.  We  must  believe 
that  the  universe  is  under  the  administration  of  God 
the  Father.  We  must  lift  our  hearts  up  against  a 
desolate  atheism  and  against  an  equally  desolate 
fatalism.  We  must  seek  to  trace  the  hand  of  God, 
and  we  must  believe  that  the  hand  is  working  in 
wisdom  and  in  love,  however  strange,  however  dark 
its  dealings  may  be.  We  must  cling  with  all  the 
strength  we  possess,  with  all  the  strength  we  can 
win,  to  the  faith  that  the  Lord  is  working,  even 
when  all  we  can  say  is,  '  It  is  the  Lord,  let  Him  do 
what  seemeth  Him  good.'  We  must  hold  that  to 
individuals  and  to  nations  God  appoints  their 
portion,  and  that  this  is  done  in  righteousness 
and  in  love. 

II 

It  is  wisest  to  begin  by  what  comes  close  to  us, 
with  the  experience  we  know.  We  should  con- 
sider deeply  the  reasons  for  the  afflictions  that 
have  marked  our  own  lives.  We  must  trace  all 
our  trials  to  our  God.     '  Thy  wrath  lieth  hard 


THE  HAND  OF  GOD  IN  JUDGMENT  87 

upon  me.  Thou  hast  afflicted  me  with  all  Thy 
waves.'  All  suffering  of  any  sort  or  kind  comes 
to  us  from  the  Divine  hand.  Believers  should 
look  past  second  causes  on  to  the  first.  They 
should  hear  the  rod  and  Him  Who  hath  appointed 
it. 

Perhaps  our  greatest  danger  is  to  watch  for 
judgments  that  fall  upon  others.  Many,  like  the 
people  in  Glamerton,  are  amazingly  apt  to  believe 
in  judgments  to  particular  persons.  They  are 
ready  to  talk  about  accidents  as  if  they  were 
judgments.  The  upsetting  of  a  boat  on  the  river 
is  reckoned  to  follow  a  breaking  of  the  Sabbath. 
The  accidental  fall  of  a  house  is  taken  to  signify 
the  special  sinfulness  of  its  occupants.  Our  Lord 
set  aside  all  this  presumption  for  ever  when  He 
declared  that  the  men  upon  whom  the  Tower  of 
Siloam  fell  were  not  sinners  above  all  sinners 
that  were  on  the  face  of  the  earth.  It  is  very 
easy  to  induce  people  to  humiliate  themselves 
because  of  the  sins  of  others.  It  is  not  so  easy 
to  induce  a  real  contrition  in  men  for  their  own 
sins. 

What  are  we  to  say,  then,  about  afflictions  ? 
Are  we  to  take  every  affliction  as  a  chastisement  ? 
Is  every  trial  to  be  accounted  an  act  of  judgment  ? 
Most  assuredly  this  is  not  so.     There  is  nothing 


88  PRAYER  IN  WAR  TIME 

more  familiar  in  the  world  than  the  sight  of  great 
trial  going  along  with  evident  and  shining  good- 
ness. But,  further,  affliction  in  itself  has  no 
power  to  effect  the  purpose  for  which  it  w^as  sent. 
Many  afflictions  lead  to  bitterness,  obstinacy, 
unbelief,  and  clinging  to  evil.  The  affliction  that 
is  accepted — what  Dr.  Maclaren  used  to  call 
'  accepted  sorrow  ' — is  an  angel  bringing  a  message 
from  God.  But  the  undisciplined  heart  may  be 
like  iron  hammered  on  an  anvil  and  made  the 
more  close-grained  thereby.  There  is  no  question 
on  which  our  spiritual  guides  have  more  profoundly 
differed  than  the  question  whether  wrongdoing 
is  punished  in  this  world.  We  have  known 
Christians  who  believed  that  for  every  sin  they 
had  committed  they  had  been  punished.  We 
have  known  others  who  believed  that  this  w^orld 
is  not  the  place  of  punishment,  and  that 
for  the  righting  of  wrong  we  must  look  to  the 
dark  beyond.  We  may  be  sure,  at  least,  that 
the  history  of  this  world  is  not  the  judgment  of 
this  world. 

W^e  can  see  reasons  other  than  transgressioji  for 
affliction.  Affliction  rightly  taken  deepens  the 
character.  After  going  through  a  great  sorrow 
we  realise  that  before  it  we  were  half  asleep,  and 
that    it    has  wakened    us    up  and  made   us  new 


THE  HAND  OF  GOD  IN  JUDGMENT  89 

creatures.  Life  has  become  significant  and  solemn 
as  it  never  was  before. 

'  Call  forth  tliy  powers^  my  soul,  ;iiul  dare 
The  conflict  of  unequal  war.' 

We  may  say  also  that,  rightly  used,  affliction 
brings  us  into  sympathy  with  our  fellow-sufferers 
and  teaches  us  how  to  bind  up  their  wounds. 

We  may  say,  too,  that  affliction  teaches  us  how 
lightly  we  must  hold  all  things  here.  In  times 
when  our  Httle  nests  are  shaking,  when  prosperity 
is  passing  from  us,  when  the  wings  of  death  over- 
shadow the  house,  when  the  mind  is  distracted 
and  marvels  how  all  is  to  end,  there  is  something 
gained.  Patience  has  been  strained,  faith  has 
been  tested,  but  love  has  been  proved,  as  one  says, 
to  the  very  uttermost  point,  and  everything  grows 
stronger  and  nearer  to  perfection. 

Ill 

But  it  is  no  doubt  wise  for  us  as  individuals  to 
search  our  hearts  and  see  whether  any  wrong- 
doing can  be  detected  which  has  brought  the 
divine  judgment.  We  must  not  judge  even  our- 
selves unrighteously.  We  may  discover  that  our 
afflictions  are  not  chastisements,  and  that  w^e 
desire  in  our  inmost  hearts  to  depart  from  iniquity. 


90  PRAYER  IN  WAR  TIME 

In  these  circumstances  men  must  have  faith. 
They  must  regard  themselves  as  bearing  troubles 
which  are  sent  for  the  comforting  and  help  of 
others,  and  perhaps  also  for  the  prevention  of  sin 
in  the  future.  No  doubt  God  reassures  many  of 
His  trembling  children  and  helps  them  to  under- 
stand more  deeply  that  word,  '  Whom  the  Lokd 
loveth  He  chasteneth.'  But  for  ourselves  we 
should  be  willing  to  search  our  hearts  as  the  spies 
searched  Canaan,  and  to  fall  down  in  humiliation 
at  the  feet  of  God.  But  against  such  inquiry 
into  the  hearts  of  others  we  are  expressly  warned. 
It  is  one  of  the  last  and  most  evil  manifestations 
of  Pharisaism.  Let  us  humble  ourselves  under 
the  mighty  hand  of  God  for  what  we  have  done 
ourselves  and  for  what  we  have  done  in  the  neglect 
of  others.  But  beyond  that  our  so-called  humilia- 
tion is  only  presumption. 

IV 

As  God  judges  individuals,  so  we  must  hold 
that  He  judges  nations.  There  is  a  judgment 
going  on.  God  does  not  judge  willingly,  for  we 
know  that  judgment  is  a  strange  work,  foreign  to 
His  heart,  though  not  to  His  nature.  But  love 
compels  judgment.  It  compels  it,  we  repeat. 
For  see  how  slow  His  judgments  are  !     See  how 


THE  HAND  OF  GOD  IN  JUDGMENT  91 

He  multiplies  His  warnings  !  See  how,  rising  up 
early,  He  tells  men  that  He  will  smite  in  order 
that  He  may  never  need  to  smite  !  When  the 
long-prepared  mine  explodes  it  is  because  it 
must.  God  has  often  to  lament,  '  In  vain  have  I 
smitten  your  children ;  they  received  no  cor- 
rection.' May  we  not  say  that  in  the  case  of 
nations,  as  in  the  case  of  individuals,  judgment  is 
the  token  of  a  father's  love  ?  For  the  sake  of  the 
love  of  God  we  must  hold  firmly  the  behef  in  the 
judgments  of  God. 

We  are  called  upon  at  this  time  to  humble  our- 
selves as  individuals  and  as  a  nation.  How  shall 
we  take  part  in  the  national  humiliation  ?  Are 
Dissenters  to  humiliate  themselves  because  of  the 
sins  of  the  Church  of  England  ?  Is  the  Church 
of  England  to  humiliate  herself  because  of  the 
sins  of  Dissenters  ?  Are  Radicals  to  be  humbled 
because  of  the  transgressions  of  Conservatives  ? 
or  Conservatives  because  of  the  transgressions  of 
Radicals  ?  Be  sure  that  all  humiUation  of  this 
kind  is  utterly  unreal,  vain,  false,  null.  God  has 
given  us  as  a  people  singular  privileges.  With  all 
our  sins  and  shortcomings  there  is  enough  to  make 
us  thankful  and  loyal  and  humble  patriots.  But 
it  is  the  way  of  God  to  chastise  often  most  severely 
those  who  are  nearest  to  Him,  those  who  owe  Him 


92  PRAYER  IN  WAR  TIME 

most.  It  may  well  be  so  with  us.  The  darkness 
will  scatter  if  we  truly  pray,  in  a  deep  personal 
humiliation,  confession,  and  repentance. 

Would  that  each  of  us  could  settle  into  an 
earnest  prayer  that  we  may  not  be  rebels  against 
the  will  of  God. 


IX 
IMPORTUNATE  PRAYER 


IMPORTUNATE  PRAYER 

Published  July  27,  1916 

Much  of  our  prayer  is  not  importunate.  In 
ordinary  circumstances  it  is  languid  and  formal. 
We  put  little  will  into  it,  little  energy  of  desire. 

But  now  many  have  come  to  know  for  the  first 
time  what  importunate  prayer  means.  One  burn- 
ing desire  has  consumed  the  rest.  We  have  known 
what  it  is  to  say,  '  Give  me  my  petition  or  I 
die.'  Chief  of  importunate  prayers  is  the  prayer 
Transeat  calix — Let  this  cup  pass.  This  cup, 
brimming  with  tribulation,  draws  nearer  and 
nearer  to  reluctant  and  paling  lips,  and  the  spirit 
is  affrighted  and  calls  to  God.  Fathers,  mothers, 
wives,  lovers  pray  that  prayer,  and  wonder  how 
it  is  with  their  dearest  in  these  valleys  and  heights 
of  death. 

Oftentimes  they  are  stricken  and  blinded  by 
receiving  the  tidings  that  this  one  j^rayer,  the 
nearest  to  the  heart  and  the  dearest,  can  be 
uttered  no  more.  Each  name  on  the  long  list  on 
which  our  eyes  fasten  every  morning  means  the 
stilling  of  an  importunate  prayer,  often  of  many 
importunate  prayers,  which  for  weeks  and  months 


95 


96  PRAYER  IN  WAR  TIME 

and  years  have  been  lifted  up  to  God.  It  may  be 
Mpful  that  we  should  consider  the  place  and 
power  of  importunate  prayer  as  our  Lord  has 
taught  it. 

I 

The  teaching  of  Christ,  so  broad  and  bold, 
seems  at  times  to  guarantee  the  almightiness  of 
importunate  prayer.  He  has  Himself  told  the 
story  of  the  widow  who,  by  sheer  importunity, 
prevailed  over  the  unjust  judge.  Everything  was 
apparently  against  her.  She  was  praying  to  an 
unrighteous  judge  who  cared  for  nothing  but  his 
own  ease  and  boasted  of  his  own  contempt  for 
God  and  man.  She  had  no  claim  upon  him. 
She  was  without  a  friend,  for  her  many  journeys 
had  to  be  taken  alone.  She  was  without  the 
right  of  access,  and  must  have  forced  her  weary 
way  with  many  to  oppose  her.  She  had  no 
promise.  Indeed,  she  had  less  than  no  promise, 
for  she  was  encountered  with  rebuffs  every  time 
of  her  pleading.  Yet  she  prayed,  and  in  the  end 
her  prayer  was  answered. 

Contrast  her  plight  with  the  place  of  the  children 
of  the  Resurrection.  They  pray  to  the  Holy 
Father,  Who  is  Love.  They  pray  to  Him  ^\Tio 
spared  not  His  Son,  but  delivered  Him  up  to  death 


IMPORTUNATE  PRAYER  97 

for  us  all.  They  pray  to  a  God  Who  so  loved  the 
world  that  He  gave  His  only  begotten  Son,  that 
whosoever  believeth  in  Him  should  have  ever- 
lasting life.  They  pray  with  a  mighty  Friend 
and  Advocate  to  help  them.  This  Friend  ever 
liveth  to  make  intercession  for  them.  They  pray 
as  those  who  are  bidden  to  pray.  It  is  not  only 
that  they  have  a  right.  They  have  more  than  a 
right.  They  are  plied  and  exhorted  with  many 
arguments  to  take  their  weariness  to  the  Throne 
of  Grace,  which  can  never  be  moved.  They  have 
exceeding  great  and  precious  promises,  for  the 
Bible  is  studded  with  encouragements  to  prayer. 
They  have  a  Priest  at  the  right  hand  of  God. 
Their  Priest  is  a  Son  over  His  own  house.  Whose 
house  are  they  if  they  hold  fast  the  confidence  and 
the  rejoicing  of  the  hope  firm  unto  the  end.  They 
have  experiences  behind  them  which  are  sacred 
and  assured.  No  believer  has  ever  been  able  to 
tell,  with  anything  like  completeness,  what  he 
has  known  about  the  power  of  prayer.  But  many 
know  so  much  that  they  have  never  been  able 
to  understand  the  doubts  and  difficulties  of  those 
who  do  not  pray  or  who  pray  reluctantly  and 
rarely.  To  the  true  believer  all  life  has  been  an 
answer  to  prayer.  Many  of  those  answers  are  so 
visible,   so   quick-coming,   so   surely  the  work   of 


98  PRAYER  IN  WAR  TIME 

God,  that  to  doubt  them  would  be  to  doubt  every- 
thing. Sometimes  they  are  almost  inclined  to 
believe  that  even  erring  prayers  have  a  strange 
power  whereby  God  exhorts  His  children  ever- 
more to  plead  first  that  the  Holy  Will  may  be 
done.  Also  there  is  the  record  of  the  work  of 
God  for  His  redeemed  people.  When  faith  and 
hope  are  low  the  spirit  is  strengthened  by  falling 
back  on  the  long  story  of  God's  grace. 

II 

We  know  very  well,  however,  that  the  promises 
which  attach  to  prayer  do  not  and  cannot  attach 
to  every  petition.  We  know  that  not  all  of  our 
prayers^  can  be  granted.  Not  every  one  can  come 
back  whole,  or  even  wounded,  from  the  battle. 
Even  while  they  know  this  the  bereaved  must 
encounter  days  of  desolation — days  when  they 
seem  to  walk  in  darkness  and  to  have  no  light. 
The  house  is  still  and  the  chair  is  empty  and  the 
great  hard  desolation  settles  down  and  seems  as 
if  it  would  never  lift.  The  frail  spirit  fears  that  it 
may  never  reach  the  happy  goal  at  all.  It  is  as 
if  it  were  left  a  prey  to  the  enemy  and  robbed  of 
all  that  made  life  sweet.  The  thoughts  will  not 
come.  The  words  of  comfort  seem  to  be  spoken 
w^ithout    meaning.     The    petitions,    if    they    are 


IMPORTUNATE  PRAYER  99 

offered,  go  up  without  heart.  The  poor  and 
drear  life  that  stretches  out  before  is  not  worth 
hving.  The  old  intimacies  of  faith  seem  to  have 
ended.  Their  days  are  as  a  dream.  The  sufferers 
cannot  enter  into  the  Sanctuary  of  the  Lord's 
Passion.  They  cannot  feel  themselves  set  as  a 
seal  on  His  heart,  as  a  seal  on  His  arm.  But  the 
comfort  is  that  Christ  is  there  even  when  His 
presence  is  not  realised. 

'  When  thou  fearest,  God  is  nearest.' 

Mary  wept  at  the  sepulchre  for  her  Lord,  and  He 
was  standing  beside  her.  The  disciples  sat  in 
the  room  with  closed  doors,  and  the  Lord  was 
among  them.  The  travellers  to  Emmaus  said, 
'  We  trusted  that  it  should  have  been  He  which 
should  have  redeemed  Israel,'  little  knowing  that 
the  true  Redeemer  of  Israel  was  the  companion 
of  their  journey. 

It  was  meet  and  right  to  go  on  praying  for  the 
beloved  life  while  the  time  for  prayer  was.  But 
it  is  not  promised  that  importunate  prayer  for 
the  earthly  life  will  be  answered.  Christians  are 
coming  to  understand  better  than  they  did  for  a 
time  that  true  prayer  concerns  itself  most  deeply 
with  the  spiritual  gifts  which  it  is  God's  will  we 
should  possess.     Once  it  was  thought  a  sign  of 


100  PRAYER  IN  WAR  TIME 

the  Divine  favour  to  attain  success  in  business. 
We  know  better  now.  Are  all  our  millionaires 
Christian  ?  Some  are  open  scoffers,  and  yet 
everything  they  touch  turns  to  gold.  What 
then  ?  Why,  nothing.  It  was  appointed  that 
our  Lord  should  for  our  sakes  become  poor,  and 
His  greatest  disciples  have  been  poor,  and  the 
time  may  come  again  when  poverty  shall  be 
accounted  the  mark  of  a  Christian.  No  ;  what 
we  are  taught  to  hope  for  is  the  children's  bread. 
Some  may  solace  themselves  with  the  crumbs 
that  fall  from  the  table,  but  there  is  room  for  each 
believer  at  the  table,  where  he  shares  with  the 
rest.  The  children's  bread  has  never  been  the 
bread  of  great  earthly  prosperity.  The  children's 
bread  has  always  been  mingled  with  tears.  The 
heirs  of  salvation  have  had  appointed  to  them  the 
experience  of  sorrow.  If  the  experience  of  sorrow 
comes  to  us  it  is  a  proof  that  we  are  among  the 
sons  and  the  daughters  of  God. 

Ill 

What,  then,  are  the  bereaved  to  hope  for  and 
to  pray  for  ?  Above  all  things  they  are  to  pray 
for  the  inward  calm  of  faith  and  love.  They  are 
to  pray  for  a  true  vision  of  immortality.  They 
are   to   ask   the    assurance   that   the   Everlasting 


IMPORTUNATE  PRAYER  101 

Love  keeps  them  and  their  dear  ones  safe  for  one 
another,  though  Jordan  rolls  between.  They  are 
to  comfort  themselves  with  the  certainty  that 
higher  work  has  been  found  for  their  beloved  in  a 
better  country,  that  is,  an  heavenly.  They  are 
passed  first  to  the  new  morning,  and  there  they 
wait  for  those  who  have  been  parted  from  them 
for  a  time.  And  it  is  for  those  who  remain  to  live 
as  those  who  know  that  they  are  the  heirs  of 
immortality,  and  to  seek  to  reach  the  spirit-land 
unsoiled  and  noble. 

IV 

But  the  importunity  need  not,  and  must  not, 
cease.  We  must  be  importunate  in  prayer — 
importunate  for  that  answer  which  God  is  always 
willing  to  bestow.  What  do  we  ask  for  when  we 
pray  ?  In  the  end  of  the  day  we  are  asking, 
whether  we  know  it  or  not,  for  power — power  to 
endure,  power  to  labour,  power  to  trust,  power 
to  fight  temptation,  power  to  keep  the  faith. 
That  is,  we  are  praying  for  the  Holy  Ghost. 
Give  us  the  Holy  Ghost  to  lift  up  our  life  to 
the  Divine  thought,  and  all  is  well.  An  eminent 
thinker  of  the  last  generation,  whose  creed  was  in 
some  respects  defective,  said  in  his  old  age  that  his 
'  whole  inner  life  had  been  one  long  self-distrust 


102  PRAYER  IN  WAR  TIME 

and  conscious  need  of  a  power  beyond  my  own.' 
He  believed  that  he  had  received  that  power  and 
was  upheld  by  it  through  his  long  pilgrimage. 
What  do  we  need  beyond  the  direct  life  with  God, 
the  personal  intercourse  with  Christ,  the  im- 
partation  of  the  strength  needed  for  the  day, 
the  power  of  vividly  realising  the  Divine  life  and 
fellowship  ?  The  immediate  action  of  God  in 
the  human  soul — this  is  the  answer,  the  super- 
natural answer  to  the  prayer  of  faith. 

But  true  prayer,  though  it  begins  with  self, 
will  not  rest  with  self.  We  are  to  pray  for  those 
nearest  us,  and  we  are  to  go  on  praying  to  the 
very  last  of  life,  whether  we  see  our  petitions 
answered  or  not.  We  are  to  pray  for  the  coming 
of  the  kingdom  of  God,  and  to  care  for  it,  and  to 
offer  sacrifice  for  it.  We  have  to  pray  with 
importunity  for  the  victory  of  that  cause  to  which 
so  many  of  our  beloved  have  given  their  lives, 
for  we  believe  with  them  that  it  is  the  cause  of 
righteousness,  of  liberty,  and  of  peace.  All  such 
prayers  are  to  be  importunate  prayers,  to  be 
offered  till  they  are  answered.  Those  who 
pray  in  that  manner  may  often  die  with  many 
petitions  unfulfilled,  and  yet  with  an  inner 
assurance  that  they  will  be  fulfilled,  that  God 
will  grant  their  requests    and  gather    them    to- 


IMPORTUNATE  PRAYER  103 

gether  at  last.  So  when  the  earthly  tabernacle 
clatters  to  the  ground,  a  mass  of  boards  and 
ruins,  the  sacred  priestly  soul  that  has  long 
ministered  there  will  hear  a  great  Voice  saying, 
'  Come  up  hither.' 


X 
THE  ROCKS  ARE  NOT  BURNING' 


'THE  ROCKS  ARE  NOT  BURNING' 

Published  July  29,  1915 

In  a  very  beautiful  and  suggestive  speech  delivered 
at  the  Wesleyan  Methodist  Conference,  Dr.  Rendel 
Harris  most  aptly  brought  before  his  audience 
the  lessons  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  as  they 
bear  upon  the  present  time.  He  reminded  his 
audience  that  the  inspired  author  wrote  when  the 
passing  world  and  the  permanent  were  throwTi 
together  much  as  they  are  now.  He  was  able, 
in  perhaps  the  greatest  crisis  which  the  Christian 
world  has  ever  faced,  to  look  down  through  the 
flames  in  which  Church  and  State  were  being 
consumed  together,  and  to  signal  back  to  us  the 
observation  that  the  rocks  were  not  burning,  that 
they  showed  no  signs  of  passing  away,  that  the 
situation  was  not  a  call  to  fear,  but  a  call  to  faith 
and  a  call  to  the  reception  of  grace,  of  fresh  grace, 
and  new  grace,  whereby  we  may  under  new  con- 
ditions serve  God  and  adorn  His  gospel. 

It  is  verily  true  that  this  is  a  time  of  fears  and 
tears,  of  agony  and  bloody  sweat  for  many,  and 
of  heartache  for  all.     The  war  shout,   which  we 

107 


108  PRAYER  IN  WAR  TIME 

thought  had  fallen  silent,  waxes  louder  and  louder. 
Never  was  the  world  at  war  like  this.  We  have 
not  merely  that  subtle,  implacable  smiting  of  the 
black  waves  of  change  which  is  a  concomitant  of 
all  life.  We  have  undreamt-of  and  inconceivable 
earthquake  and  catastrophe.  The  very  earth 
seems  to  reel  under  our  feet.  The  foundations 
are  destroyed.  The  world  is  deluged  with  blood. 
The  kingdoms  are  going  to  rack.  Earthly  fortunes 
are  being  altered  in  an  hour.  Those  whom  we 
thought  would  outlive  us,  through  whom  we  had 
some  hold  of  the  future,  die  before  us  because  they 
can  fight  and  we  cannot.  Truly  we  live  in  an 
inverted  order,  and  it  is  not  wonderful  that 
multitudes,  even  of  the  faithful,  are  wearied  and 
vv^orn  with  sorrow,  distracted  by  dark  forebodings 
that  will  not  down.  In  the  mist  a  mysterious  sadness 
gathers  over  the  youngest  and  the  lightest  hearts. 
Profiting  by  Dr.  Rendel  Harris's  hint,  we  will 
review  the  picture  of  the  changing  which  is  drawn 
by  the  inspired  writer,  and  then  set  over  against 
it  his  picture  of  the  permanent. 

I 

He  begins  by  telling  us  that  the  old  sacrificial 
order,  so  dear  to  those  he  was  addressing,  so  bound 
up  with  their  inmost  thoughts  and  feelings,  rever- 


'  THE  ROCKS  ARE  NOT  BURNING '    109 

enced  from  the  beginning  of  life,  had  to  pass  away. 
Earthly  priests  had  to  go.  They  were  made 
priests  after  the  law  of  a  carnal  commandment 
which  was  in  force  no  longer.  There  was  no  need 
now  of  the  priests  who  offered  daily  sacrifices, 
first  for  their  own  sins,  and  then  for  the  sins  of 
the  people.  There  was  no  need  of  the  old  taber- 
nacle and  of  the  blood  of  bulls  and  of  goats  and 
the  ashes  of  the  heifer  sprinkling  the  unclean, 
and  of  the  divers  washings  and  the  carnal  ordi- 
nances that  had  existed  for  so  long.  The  priests 
who  had  infirmity,  who,  when  their  time  came,  had 
to  yield  to  the  inexorable,  w^ere  to  have  their  place 
no  more  at  all  in  the  Christian  Church.  Thus  the 
old  foundations  w^ere  shifted,  and  the  old  homes 
of  religion  fell,  and  those  who  first  read  the  Epistle 
were  almost  broken-hearted,  for  they  lived  by 
these  and  for  these.  Even  the  illuminated  were 
in  fear  of  so  vast  a  change. 

Nor  is  this  all.  The  whole  structure  of  earthly 
society  was  shattered  and  brought  to  the  ground. 
Worldly  possessions  wxre  taken  away.  Instead  of 
riches  there  was  poverty.  Life  was  maintained 
on  bare  necessities.  Christians  endured  the  great 
fight  of  affliction.  They  were  made  a  gazing 
stock  by  reproaches.  They  w^ere  spoiled  of  their 
goods.     Even  the  strongest  and  the  simplest  faith 


110  PRAYER  IN  WAR  TIME 

had  to  be  rallied  to  meet  these  experiences.  Nor 
did  the  writer  hold  out  any  hope  of  more  peaceful 
and  stable  times.  On  the  contrary,  he  told  his 
people  that  chastening  and  scourging  were  to  be 
their  fortune.  He  spoke  even  of  a  time  when 
the  stable  earth  and  heavens  should  wax  old  as 
doth  a  garment.  He  whose  voice  once  shook 
the  earth  from  the  mountain  that  might  not  be 
touched  had  promised,  saying,  '  Yet  once  more  I 
shake  not  the  earth  only,  but  also  the  heaven.' 
What  does  this  mean  ?  We  cannot  tell.  The 
poet  writes  about  these  '  ruinable  skies.'  Ruin- 
able  !  Is  everything  therefore  insecure  ?  Are  not 
the  heavens  themselves  safe  and  free  from  fear  ? 

II 

For  all  these  the  blessed  writer  has  an  answer, 
and  it  seems  as  if  he  lingered  with  a  certain  joy 
over  such  words  as  '  same  '  and  '  continue  '  and 
'  remainest '  and  '  unchangeable,'  and,  very  speci- 
ally, '  rest.'  All  that  was  of  God  would  endure, 
unscathed  by  the  uttermost  violence  of  the  storm. 
The  rocks  were  not  burning.  He  begins  very 
grandly  where  he  ends,  and  that  is  with  God. 
'  God  who  at  sundry  times  and  in  divers  manners 
spake  in  time  past  unto  the  fathers,  hath  in  these 
last  days  spoken  unto  us  by  His  Son,  whom  He 


'THE  ROCKS  ARE  NOT  BURNING'   111 

hath  appointed  heir  of  all  things,  by  whom  also  He 
made  the  worlds.'  It  is  to  the  Eternal  Son,  who, 
being  the  brightness  of  God's  glory  and  the  express 
image  of  His  person,  and  upholding  all  things  by 
the  word  of  His  power — to  the  Son  who  has  by 
Himself  purged  our  sins — that  the  throne  is 
assigned.  '  He  sat  down  at  the  right  hand  of  the 
Majesty  on  high.' 

Thus  we  deal  with  Christ  whose  kingdom  shall 
have  no  end.  Unto  the  Son  He  saith,  '  Thy  throne, 
O  God,  is  for  ever  and  ever.'  Earth  and  heaven 
shall  perish,  but  Thou  remainest.  '  Thou  art  the 
same,  and  Thy  years  shall  not  fail.'  There  shall 
be  an  end  of  His  enemies,  for  they  shall  become 
His  footstool. 

The  Epistle  is  concerned  mainly  with  the  gospel 
of  the  priesthood.  But  the  offices  of  our  Lord 
cannot  be  divided.  He  is  Prophet,  Priest,  and  King 
in  every  action.  He  is  the  eternal  High  Priest, 
a  priest  for  ever  after  the  order  of  Melchisedec. 
The  priests  after  the  order  of  Aaron  passed  away. 
They  were  transitory,  and  their  work  was  transitory. 
They  were  not  suffered  to  continue  by  reason  of 
death,  but  the  Son  was  consecrated  for  evermore. 
Once  in  the  end  of  the  world  He  appeared  to  put 
away  sin  by  the  sacrifice  of  Himself,  and  thus  He 
accomplished  that  work  of  salvation,  in  the  full 


112  PRAYER  IN  WAR  TIME 

sense,  which  had  not  been  completed  before. 
By  one  offering  He  hath  perfected  for  ever  them 
that  are  sanctified.  Instead  of  the  waning  and 
ineffectual  ordinances  of  old  time,  which  left  those 
who  came  under  them  so  little  helped,  we  have  the 
Apostle  and  High  Priest  of  our  profession,  Christ 
Jesus.  He  is  set  as  a  Son  over  His  own  house, 
Whose  house  are  we  if  we  hold  fast  the  confidence 
and  the  rejoicing  of  the  hope  firm  unto  the  end. 

So  much  for  the  priesthood  of  the  new  Church 
as  compared  with  the  priesthood  of  the  old.  But 
what  of  our  hopes,  thwarted  and  ruined  as  they 
seem  to  be  ?  What  of  our  trials  ?  The  answer 
is  that  our  hopes  are  to  be  fixed  no  lower  than 
Christ  Himself,  ascended  and  enthroned.  About 
hopes  for  this  world  there  is  not  much  to  say. 
There  is  no  promise  of  the  restitution  of  the  goods 
which  have  been  taken  by  robbers.  But  in 
heaven  we  have  a  better  and  a  more  enduring 
substance,  where  thieves  cannot  break  through  nor 
steal.  Resting  on  two  immutable  things,  the  word 
and  the  oath  of  God,  we  have  strong  consolation. 
We  have  laid  hold  of  the  hope  set  before  us,  and 
that  hope  is  an  anchor  of  the  soul.  It  is  an  anchor 
flung  into  the  azure  deeps  of  that  sea  which  is 
above  all  heavens,  in  the  sanctuary  within  the 
veil.     It  takes  hold  of  the  Forerunner  who  has  for 


'THE  ROCKS  ARE  NOT  BURNING'     113 

us  entered  in,  even  Jesus  made  a  High  Priest 
for  ever. 

We  are  promised  no  escape  from  pain.  All 
that  can  be  said  is  that  our  pain  is  not  hke  the 
pain  of  apostasy.  Even  if  it  were,  the  faithful 
are  taught  that  the  chastening  and  the  scourging 
of  life — grievous  though  they  be — are  neverthe- 
less the  work  of  love.  '  Whom  the  LoKD  loveth 
He  chasteneth,  and  scourgeth  every  son  whom 
He  receiveth.'  These  chastenings  yield  the  peace- 
able fruits  of  righteousness  to  those  who  endure 
them. 

What  of  the  dead  ?  This  is  the  question  that 
m  these  times  tries  the  heart  more  than  any  other. 
We  have  the  long  roll  of  the  elders  who  obtained 
a  good  report  by  faith,  who  achieved  mighty  deeds 
by  faith,  subdued  kings,  worked  righteousness, 
stopped  the  mouths  of  lions,  turned  to  flight  the 
armies  of  the  aliens.  These  all  died  in  faith,  and 
they  did  not  believe  a  lie. 

But  there  is  more  than  this,  so  much  more,  so 
sweet  and  so  wonderful,  that  one  shrinks  from 
trying  to  expound  it.  By  hope  and  by  faith  we 
have  the  assurance  that  the  faithful  dead  are 
happy  in  God's  keeping.  Hope  for  this  writer 
is  not  the  pathetic  figure  which  a  modern  painter 
has    made   her,    wistful,    weak,    and   pale.     Hope 


lU  PRAYER  IN  WAR  TIME 

to  him  is  steadfast,  and  Faith  is  steadfast  also, 
and  both  point  one  way.  But  there  is  more  than 
this,  for  it  is  written  that  '  we  are  come  to  Mount 
Sion,  unto  the  city  of  the  Hving  God,  to  the  general 
assembly  and  church  of  the  first-born,  which  are 
written  in  heaven,  and  to  the  spirits  of  just  men 
made  perfect.'  We  are  near  them  did  we  know  it. 
We  have  come  nearer  them,  did  we  know  it,  than 
Faith  and  Hope  can  ever  take  us.  We  are  with 
them ;  we  almost  join  them  in  the  new  song. 
We  are  in  fellowship  here  and  now,  compassed  with 
darkness  as  we  are,  often  so  lonely,  so  lost — we  are 
in  communion  with  the  church  of  the  first-born. 

Finally,  we  are  approaching  a  time  when  all  the 
cruelty  of  change  will  end.  Ere  that  time  come 
we  may  have  to  encounter  much,  for  the  word 
'  Yet  once  more  '  means  the  removing  of  those 
things  that  are  shaken,  but  this  is  that  the  things 
which  cannot  be  shaken  may  remain,  and  we  receive 
a  kingdom  that  cannot  be  moved,  eternal  in  the 
heavens. 

Ill 

The  last  chapter  of  the  book  is  made  up  partly 
of  practical  counsel,  but  it  is  impossible  for  the 
writer  to  keep  long  away  from  the  thought  that 
rules  him.     We  find  him  saying  almost  at  once, 


'THE  ROCKS  ARE  NOT  BURNING'      115 

'  Jesus  Christ,  the  same  yesterday,  to-day,  and 
for  ever.'  Yes,  he  tells  us,  there  is  one  Rock 
that  is  stable  amid  the  waves  and  billows  and 
ragings  of  the  sea.  Jesus  Christ  is  the  same. 
Though  the  whole  scenery  of  this  passing  world  be 
altered,  though  the  faces  we  were  fain  to  look  on 
all  fade  away,  He  remains  the  same  as  our  fathers 
knew  Him,  the  same  as  the  Hebrews  knew  Him, 
the  same  as  Eternity  knew  Him,  and  always  to 
be  the  same.  Dr.  Harris  points  out  with  very 
fine  insight  how  the  writer  says,  '  Let  brotherly 
love  continue.'  This  also  was  to  endure,  no  matter 
how  the  earth  might  rock.  It  was  to  continue  and 
to  last  in  all  worlds  and  through  all  ages.  There 
is  a  tender,  reverent  remembrance  of  the  dead 
ministers  of  Christ — they  which  have  the  rule  over 
you,  which  have  spoken  unto  you  the  word  of 
God,  '  whose  faith  follow,  considering  the  end  of 
their  conversation,'  which  means  the  manner  in 
which  they  died.  He  (the  writer)  was  hardly 
conscious  of  separation,  for  to  him  the  thin  veil 
was  shot  through  and  through  with  gleams  of  light 
from  the  other  side.  All  the  book  is  laden  with 
warnings  against  apostasy.  There  are  counsels 
on  what  becomes  us  in  a  world  like  this — con- 
tentment with  food  and  raiment,  willingness  to 
sacrifice  out  of  very  small  means,   obedience  to 


116  PRAYER  IN  WAR  TIME 

holy  teachers,  and  continued  prayer.  But  the 
writer  is  always  turning  to  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
that  great  Shepherd  of  the  Sheep,  as  the  Answer, 
the  Consolation,  the  Refuge,  the  Succourer,  the 
Prophet,  the  Priest,  the  King,  of  His  tried  but 
faithful  people. 

*  On  my  soul 
Looks  Thy  fair  Face  and  makes  it  still.' 


XI 
TO  THE  QUIET  IN  THE  LAND 


TO  THE  QUIET  IN  THE  LAND 

Piihlished  January  20,  1916 

We  had  thought  of  addressing  this  article  to 
country  ministers,  but  it  has  seemed  well  to  widen 
its  scope  a  little  and  to  take  in  the  quiet  Christians 
who  are  left  in  the  land  during  this  period  of 
agony  and  conflict  and  strain.  There  are  many 
ministers  who  are  placed  in  obscure  streets  of 
great  towns.  There  is  a  host  of  unknown  workers 
— Sunday-school  teachers,  visitors,  and  others — 
who  in  their  humble  spheres  are  serving  the  Lord 
Christ.  There  are  Christians  in  the  home  exer- 
cising steady  but  unobtrusive  influences.  With 
conferences  and  committees  and  manifestos  these 
have  nothing  to  do.  Their  names  are  not  men- 
tioned in  new^spapers.  But  they  are  as  much  in 
the  heart  of  the  strife  as  any  others.  They  read 
with  painful  interest  the  news  of  the  war.  Their 
hearts  are  often  wrung  with  anxiety.  Their 
dearest  may  be  among  the  roar  of  the  shells. 
Often  they  are  sorely  perplexed  by  conflicting 
voices.  It  is  on  them,  humanly  speaking,  that 
the  welfare  of  the  Church  and  the  nation  chiefly 


119 


120  PRAYER  IN  WAR  TIME 

depends,  and  we  would  in  all  humility  address  to 
them  a  message  of  heartening. 

The  circulation  of  the  common  life  of  prayer  and 
love  and  sacrifice  through  our  smallest  churches 
is  an  end  devoutly  to  be  wished.  The  pastors 
should  be  able  to  say,  '  My  little  kingdom  is  my 
own.'  It  may  not  be  free  from  internal  upheavals 
and  occasional  storms,  but  these  should  end  in  the 
face  of  a  vast  and  universal  sorrow.  George 
Macdonald  once  said  that  in  spite  of  grumbling 
and  tristesse  ours  more  than  any  other  nation  has 
been,  is,  and  will  be  saved  by  hope.  In  the 
maintenance  of  hope  we  are  fellow-workers  with 
God,  and  most  of  us  can  serve  Him  best,  and  can 
best  satisfy  the  burning  desire  to  help  in  making 
the  world  clean,  by  sweeping  our  OAvn  little  room. 

There  are  gloomy  prophecies  about  the  future 
of  the  Church.  The  smallest  of  Christian  assem- 
blies has  its  roll  of  honour,  with  a  mounting  list 
of  names.  So  many  are  dead  or  dying,  so  many 
are  far  away  in  the  very  heart  of  peril.  What  is 
to  become  of  the  remnant  ?  Will  the  Christian 
society  survive  ?  For  answer  we  say  that  the 
gates  of  hell  shall  not  prevail  against  it.  The 
Church  shall  live,  and  not  die,  and  declare  the 
works  of  the  Lord.  Christian  workers  at  home 
and  abroad  have  a  greater  opportunity  presented 


TO  THE  QUIET  IN  THE  LAND        121 

to  them  than  was  ever  before  given  in  the  world's 
history. 

I 

There  are  certain  things  that  should  be  said 
about  Christian  preaching  at  this  time.  Chris- 
tianity is  being  asked  to  do  what  it  was  never 
meant  to  do,  what  it  never  did  and  never  will  do 
on  this  earth.  If  we  are  asked  to  explain  why 
this  war  took  place,  we  are  face  to  face  with  a 
mystery  which  will  remain  a  mystery  till  in  His 
good  time  the  mystery  of  God  shall  be  finished. 
No  one  has  ever  been  able  by  any  searching  thought 
to  explain  the  origin  of  evil  and  of  pain.  We  do 
see  a  little  way  in  the  darkness.  We  see  that  we 
cannot  be  good  without  consenting  to  be  made 
good.  We  must  lay  hold  of  Christ  that  we  may 
be  partakers  of  His  holiness.  A  goodness  that  is 
forced  upon  us  is  not  a  real  goodness.  We  can 
also  see  how  sharp  suffering  is  often  sent  to  break 
the  crust  that  has  gathered  about  the  heart. 
God  often  brings  His  suffering  children  to  their 
home  and  their  blessedness  by  the  road  of  pain. 
We  can  also  see  the  glory  of  vicarious  sacrifice. 
This  is  the  doctrine  which,  according  to  testimony, 
has  taken  hold  of  the  soldiers  in  the  trenches. 
They  seem  to  understand,  as  they  never  did,  the 


122  PRAYER  IN  WAR  TIME 

meaning  of  the  death  of  Christ.  It  is  the  task  of 
the  theologian  to  show  how  from  vicarious  suffering 
is  developed  the  great  oblation  and  satisfaction  for 
the  sins  of  the  world.  He  could  not  do  so  if  he 
did  not  begin  with  vicarious  sacrifice,  as  we  see  it, 
between  man  and  man.  But  the  soldier  takes  a 
flying  leap  and  does  not  enter  into  the  mysteries 
of  the  Eternal  and  Adorable  Trinity.  Nor  need 
he.  It  is  enough  that  he  believes  that  Christ 
died  for  him  on  Calvary  and  that  the  Blood  of 
Jesus  Christ  cleanses  from  all  sin. 

But  we  should  be  the  last  to  say  that  these  were 
complete  explanations.  Why  does  not  God  give 
more  grace  ?  All  Christians  agree  that  they  are 
saved  by  grace.  Why  is  the  river  of  grace  so 
scant  ?  W^hy  does  God  elect  one  to  suffering  and 
another  to  ease  ?  Why  should  this  one,  who  had 
twined  his  life  with  so  many  other  lives,  be  shot, 
while  the  other,  who  has  none  to  mourn  him, 
escapes  ?  The  only  answer  is  that  we  cannot 
answer.  We  cannot  answer  one  of  a  thousand. 
Clouds  and  darkness  are  round  about  God,  though 
justice  and  judgment  are  the  foundation  of  His 
throne.  His  way  is  in  the  sea  and  His  path 
in  the  deep  waters,  and  His  footsteps  are  not 
known ;  nevertheless  He  leads  His  people  like 
a  flock. 


TO  THE  QUIET  IN  THE  LAND        123 

All  we  can  say  is  that  this  is  a  world  for  faith. 
We  must  have  faith  in  God,  in  His  Love,  in  His 
Power,  in  His  Wisdom.  We  must  cast  ourselves 
upon  Him  in  the  hour  of  deepest  darkness,  assured 
that  He  understands  and  that  we  shall  yet  under- 
stand. Above  all,  we  must  put  in  the  forefront 
the  Cross  of  Calvary  and  the  broken  heart  of 
Christ.  God  is  not  indifferent  to  our  sorrows,  for 
He  so  loved  the  world  that  He  gave  His  only 
begotten  Son  that  vvhosoever  believeth  in  Him 
should  not  perish,  but  have  everlasting  life.  This 
is  a  w^orld  w^here  only  believers  can  truly  live. 

Another  challenge  w^hich  w^e  are  not  called  upon 
to  answTr  is  to  account  for  the  failure  of  the 
Church.  There  never  was  any  promise  that  the 
path  should  be  easy,  that  the  Church  doing  her 
duty  should  annex  province  aftef  province  of  life 
in  the  world  and  master  them.  On  the  contrary, 
w^hen  the  Son  of  Man  came,  not  to  be  ministered 
unto  but  to  minister,  He  failed  to  convert  the 
world.  His  apostles  also  failed.  They  had 
successes,  but  they  were  partial  and  incomplete. 
So  it  has  always  been.  Slow,  and  even  broken  and 
tortuous,  has  ever  been  the  journey  of  the  Mystic 
Spouse  through  the  wilderness,  even  though  she 
has  leant  upon  her  Beloved.  There  are  great 
promises  of  a  fairer  time,  the  meaning  of  which 


124  PRAYER  IN  WAR  TIME 

will  some  time  appear  more  plainly  to  the  soul. 
But  the  work  of  the  Church  and  the  failure  of  the 
Church  are  as  they  have  ever  been. 

II 

What  then  is  the  preacher  to  do  ?  Much  that 
he  alone  can  do.  The  mere  fact  that  Christianity 
is  the  only  religion  that  has  fairly  measured  itself 
with  sin  and  sorrow  and  death  is  the  overwhelming 
fact  of  the  present  time.  The  preacher  who  has 
the  powerful  enforcement  of  faith  and  earnest- 
ness will  find  that  he  has  such  an  access  to  human 
hearts  as  he  never  had  before.  Let  him  only 
try  it.  Let  him  preach  Christ  and  the  new  world 
from  which  Christ  came,  to  which  He  returned, 
which  He  is  still  making,  and  he  will  speak  to 
weary,  aching,  broken  hearts.  There  are  those 
who  for  years  have  looked  for  no  personal  blessing 
from  without.  There  are  those  for  whom  this 
experience  seems  to  have  begun.  They  seemed 
to  be  rich  the  other  day  in  the  love  of  husband  or 
son  or  brother — and  now  !  It  looks  as  if  the  dark 
future  could  bring  them  nothing.  To  such  we  are 
to  preach  the  present  love  of  Christ,  that  love, 
given  and  returned,  which  is  the  chief  blessedness 
of  life.  Robertson  of  Brighton  was  as  remote 
from   cant   as   any   Christian   preacher   ever  was. 


TO  THE  QUIET  IN  THE  LAND        125 

and  yet  he,  when  asked  whether  he  loved  Christ, 
repHed  with  perfect  simpHcity  that  with  one 
exception  he  loved  no  one  else  in  comparison. 
Did  any  of  the  seed  of  Jacob  ever  seek  His  face 
in  vain  ? 

If  we  thought  that  these  dear  lives  had 
vanished  into  the  immeasurable  inane,  dying 
out  like  a  puff  of  wind,  we  should  indeed  be  left 
desolate.  It  would  hardly  be  worth  while  to  fight 
for  anything.  A  quiet  life  on  terms  of  servitude 
might  be  accepted  hopelessly.  But  when  we 
know  Christ  we  know  that  not  one  of  these  lives 
is  unreckoned.  If  not  a  sparrow  falls  to  the 
ground  without  our  Father,  does  any  soldier  fall 
to  the  ground  unheeded  ?  Let  us  pray  for  those 
who  are  still  with  us,  and  let  us  be  bravely  hopeful 
for  those  who  have  gone.  The  conditions  of 
service  are  very  simple.  Long  ago  it  was  foretold 
that  the  days  would  come  when  the  sun  would 
be  turned  into  darkness  and  the  moon  into  blood. 
But  there  was  an  easy  way  out  of  it.  '  Whosoever 
shall  call  upon  the  name  of  the  Lord  shall  be 
saved.'  A  look  at  the  Crucified  One,  a  calling 
on  the  Lord — these  are  enough.  Christ  knows 
all.  From  His  Cross  He  has  flooded  the  world 
with  forgiveness,  and  all  that  we  have  to  do  is  to 
dip  in  the  cup.     There  is  soil  in  every  heart  for  the 


126  PRAYER  IN  WAR  TIME 

growth  of  the  Gospel  seed.  We  shall  find  them 
again,  though  we  may  not  know  the  place  of  their 
graves.  It  is  a  great  thing  to  have  this  impulse, 
to  look  forward  and  to  expect  the  reunion.  This 
hope  maketh  not  ashamed,  and  it  soon  shapes  the 
whole  atmosphere  of  the  spirit  to  its  likeness. 

Ill 

Perhaps  the  greatest  opportunity  is  that  of 
pastoral  work.  Ministers  are  parted  for  a  season 
from  the  young  men  of  their  churches,  but  they 
have  left  to  them  the  fathers  and  the  mothers 
and  the  children.  They  have  also  left  to  them, 
and  will  have  left  to  them,  the  gallant  men  who  are 
destined  to  return.  If  the  pastor  will  lay  himself  out 
to  serve  his  people  in  this  fiery  trial  he  will  discover 
that  worship  is  ministration,  and  that  the  commoner 
service  is  divine  service.  If  death  has  come  he  can 
administer  consolation  through  the  good  hope.  If 
there  is  suspense  he  can  hearten  and  pray.  He  can 
understand  the  wife  and  mother  who  have  had  no 
letters  for  a  week.  He  can  understand  those  who 
are  afraid  to  open  the  telegrams.  Whatever  comes, 
he  has  the  Word  of  Christ  to  repeat.  All  this  he 
will  do  for  his  people,  not  as  one  who  helps  from 
afar,  but  as  one  of  themselves,  not  with  conde- 
scension, but  as  one  who  finds  his  highest  life  in 


TO  THE  QUIET  IN  THE  LAND        127 

the  companionship  of  the  sufferers.  Very  many 
ministers  have  their  own  sons  out  fighting  for  the 
cause,  and  they  will  receive  in  many  cases  as  much 
comfort  as  they  impart.  It  is  by  prayer  that  the 
work  will  be  best  accomplished.  Perhaps  we  have 
laid  too  much  stress  upon  great  public  gatherings 
for  intercession.  They  are  good  even  if  people 
are  only  driven  to  them  by  fear.  But  Christ 
said  that  where  two  or  three  were  gathered  together 
in  His  name,  He  was  there  in  the  midst  of  them. 
We  repudiate  the  hateful  nonsense  spoken  about 
'  little  churches  and  little  ministers.'  We  abhor 
the  arithmetical  exercises  which  tend  to  show  that 
if  there  are  not  thirty  or  fifty  or  a  hundred  in  a 
chapel  it  ought  to  be  closed.  God  has  done  great 
things  in  smaller  assemblies  than  these,  and  He 
will  do  them  again.  We  would  not  have  ministers 
be  too  anxious  for  large  meetings.  But  let  the 
meetings  go  on,  and  if  they  are  informed  by  grace 
one  and  another  will  quietly  come  and  join  in  the 
supplications. 

It  is  most  important  that  the  pastor  should  put 
himself  into  closest  touch  with  the  men  who  are 
away.  He  ought  to  see  all  the  letters  they  send 
home.  If  he  is  doing  his  duty  the  letters  will  be 
brought  to  him.  He  should  write  many  letters 
himself  to  the  soldiers.     They  are  made  happy. 


128  PRAYER  IN  WAR  TIME 

as  every  one  testifies,  by  friendly  letters.  They  are 
comforted  by  the  thought  that  they  are  remem- 
bered and  prayed  for  at  home.  If  this  is  the  habit, 
those  who  come  back  will  cling  faster  than  ever 
to  the  village  pastor,  the  village  church,  and  the 
God  of  our  salvation.  But  that  end  is  not  primary. 
It  is  a  plain  duty,  and  it  ought  to  be  a  very  great 
privilege,  to  make  the  life  of  the  church  as  much 
as  possible  the  life  of  a  loving  family  while  the 
trouble  lasts. 

Once  more,  we  have  the  children,  and  they 
ought  to  be  considered  as  they  have  never  been 
considered.  Is  it  right  that  the  churches  should 
allow  the  number  of  their  scholars  to  decrease  so 
much  and  so  rapidly  ?  Some  little  decrease  may 
be  inevitable  through  the  changing  conditions, 
but  w^e  at  least  have  never  heard  of  any  well- 
directed  movement  for  canvassing  the  children 
and  bringing  them  wdthin  the  range  of  Christian 
teaching.  Can  any  one  tell  us  of  any  minister 
who  has  gone  with  his  Sunday-school  teachers  to 
visit  the  children  outside  and  tried  to  bring  them 
in  ?  We  should  be  very  glad  to  hear  of  such  cases, 
but  they  must  be  very  few.  No.  What  our 
churches  will  do  is  to  hold  conferences,  and  papers 
will  be  read  and  speeches  delivered,  and  in  due 
course  a  decrease  will  be  reported.     It  has  been 


TO  THE  QUIET  IN  THE  LAND        129 

said  that  every  minister  who  allows  his  Sunday- 
school  to  diminish  is  a  slacker.  This  is  undoubtedly 
most  unfair,  because  there  are  districts  where  the 
population  has  largely  decreased,  but  there  is  more 
truth  in  the  charge  than  we  like  to  think. 

Let  the  children  then  be  watched,  shepherded, 
brought  in,  ministered  unto.  That  is  the  true  end 
of  the  Sunday-school — to  bring  children  to  Jesus. 
The  communication  of  knowledge  is  a  very  small 
part  of  the  business,  and  it  may  be  horribly  abused. 
We  want  the  children  to  have  their  minds  stored 
with  precious  texts  and  godly  hymns,  and  to  have 
their  hearts  directed  to  the  Saviour  who  sought 
them.  We  ought  to  look  with  a  new  interest  at 
the  children  who  are  to  live  in  the  new  world  in 
which  many  of  us  are  to  have  so  small  a  share. 
They  should  know  the  solemnity  of  this  war. 
They  should  be  taught  about  sin  and  redemption. 
Their  lives  should  be  so  cultivated  and  tended 
that  they  will  blossom  at  length  into  faith  and 
love  and  obedience.  This  is  the  way  to  the  heart 
of  mothers  and  to  the  heart  of  fathers  also.  It  is 
not  the  will  of  our  Father  in  heaven  that  one  of 
these  little  ones  should  perish,  and  if  we  have  to 
report  decreases,  let  us  make  sure  that  we  have 
done  what  we  could  to  prevent  them. 

We  hope  we  have  said  enough  to  show  that  the 


130  PRAYER  IN  WAR  TIME 

worker  has  a  great  power  in  the  land.  Let  these 
workers  be  remembered.  It  would  be  well  if  those 
of  us  who  were  brought  up  in  country  churches 
gave  special  thought  to  them  and  to  their  pastors. 
If  we  do  so  we  shall  help  to  maintain  within  them 
that  sense  of  Love  at  the  heart  of  things  which 
is  the  chief  need  of  us  all  to-dav. 


XII 
WHEN  THE  WOUNDED  GO  HOME 


WHEN  THE  WOUNDED  GO  HOME 

Published  April  1,  1915 

We  are  thinking  not  so  much  of  the  wounded  who 
are  recovering  from  their  wounds,  who  are  being 
tended  with  the  utmost  love  and  skill,  who  have 
been  honourably  dismissed  from  the  fight,  or  are 
being  strengthened  for  its  renewal.  They  have 
gone  home,  or  they  will  go  home,  to  sun  them- 
selves in  the  warmth  of  devotion.  But  what  of 
those  who  have  died  of  their  wounds,  who  lie  cold 
and  stark  on  the  battlefield,  who,  it  may  be,  have 
been  buried  in  nameless  graves  known  only  to 
God  ?  Have  not  they,  too,  gone  home — home  to 
a  love  compared  with  which  ours  was  untender — 
to  a  care  compared  with  which  ours  was  ungentle  ? 
Surely  Easter  and  its  messages  are  precious  in 
these  days  as  they  have  never  been  before.  Never 
were  there  so  many  of  our  people  bereaved  or  about 
to  be  bereaved.  What  anguished  hearts  need  is  the 
Easter  assurance  of  life.  For  we  cannot,  try  as  we 
may,  love  the  dead  as  dead.  We  may,  and  we  do, 
love  their  memories  ;  but  if  we  love  themselves, 
then  they  are  living.  Love  is  for  life  ;  it  cannot 
dwell  with  death. 

133 


134  PRAYER  IN  WAR  TIME 

Easter  comes  to  us  with  the  assurance  that  the 
dead  are  alive,  that  death  has  been  aboUshed, 
that  life  and  immortality  have  been  brought  to 
light  by  the  Gospel.  We  are  not  left  to  the 
foiled  searching  of  mortality.  The  mighty  God, 
even  the  Lord,  has  spoken,  and  we  know  the 
truth  about  death.  We  have  more  than  words, 
for  the  Eternal  Word  Himself  came  to  us  amid 
the  assaults  of  death,  in  this  night  of  fears  and 
tears,  and  bowed  His  head  and  gave  up  the  ghost, 
and  slept  in  the  new  tomb,  and  rose  from  it  to 
smite  the  gates  of  brass  and  to  break  the  bars  of 
iron  asunder.  This  is  the  Easter  tidings.  Death 
is  dead  for  the  faithful.  The  conquest  has  been 
achieved  that  can  never  be  undone.  Henceforth 
the  life  beyond  death  is  the  true  life  for  us,  and 
in  a  sense  we  live  it  now,  for  death  comes  to  us  as 
sleep,  as  the  entrance  into  the  blessed  and  ever- 
lasting rest.  Easter  is  much  more  than  an  unguent 
to  the  sorrows  of  life.  It  is  a  way  to  victory  over 
them.  It  is  much  more  than  an  alleviation  of 
human  misery.  It  sheds  upon  our  sorrows  a 
transfiguring  strength. 

I 

But  it  may  be  said.  What  you  have  written  is 
true    of   the    faithful    dead.     But    all    who    have 


WHEN  THE  WOUNDED  GO  HOME    135 

fallen  in  battle  have  not  been  faithful.  How 
are  we  to  meet  this  difficulty  ?  It  must  be  faced 
frankly  with  all  the  light  we  have,  and  in  full 
recognition  of  the  fact  that  our  light  is  limited. 

We  will  not  make  too  much  of  the  soldier's 
nobility.  It  is  true  that  the  good  soldier  calls 
forth  the  love  of  every  honest  heart.  Courage  is 
the  root  of  all  virtue,  and  it  will  be  an  evil  day 
when  the  coward  is  allowed  to  escape.  Also 
self-sacrifice  is  the  divinest  element  in  man,  the 
element  that  brings  him  nearest  to  the  Christ 
who  is  the  Bearer  of  our  sorrows  and  the  Fountain 
of  our  joy.  We  love  to  hear  of  those  who  have 
given  themselves  to  the  roughest  and  the  sternest 
service,  who  have  been  ready  to  bear  the  very 
brunt  of  the  fray.  The  dust  and  the  smoke,  and 
the  garments  rolled  in  blood,  and  the  sword  all 
hacked,  and  the  dinted  armour,  and  the  bruised 
shield,  speak  of  a  hero's  work.  These  are  good 
soldiers  who,  when  they  are  called  to  advance  to 
the  attack,  do  not  wish  themselves  away,  who 
feel  the  stern  joy  which  flushes  the  face  in  the  light 
of  battle,  who  do  not  know  how  to  >aeld,  and  will 
not  hear  of  retreating.  Such  men  are  the  saviours 
of  their  country,  and  indeed  no  country  can  live 
without  them.  It  is  our  business,  when  the  land 
is  imperilled,  to  value  them  as  we  ought  and  to  help 


136  PRAYER  IN  WAR  TIME 

them  as  we  can.  It  is  impiety  to  throw  responsi- 
bihties  upon  God  which  He  has  thrown  on  us. 
We  need  in  our  defence  no  mere  trumpeters  of 
gala  days,  but  men  to  be  looked  for  among  the 
slain  and  the  surviving  when  the  furious  storm  of 
battle  is  over.  We  have  seen  in  this  war  great 
marvels  of  self-sacrifice  which  we  cannot  behold 
without  bending  our  heads  in  reverence. 

But  it  is  true  that  among  the  bravest  there  are 
many  who  in  quiet  years  did  not  live  wisely, 
who  had  many  weaknesses,  and  bore  many  stains, 
and  were  often  grievously  at  fault.  Their  redemp- 
tion cannot  come  from  the  fact  that  they  died  well, 
however  well  they  died. 

Are  we,  then,  to  give  over  hoping,  to  doubt 
their  place  in  the  great  Redemption  ?  No  ;  for 
we  may  hope  much,  and  very  much,  from  the  very 
peril  and  awfulness  and  solemnity  of  their  end. 
Their  lives  were  in  hazard  from  the  first  day  of 
their  fighting.  Did  they  not  know  it  ?  Did  they 
not  breathe  a  prayer  to  the  Saviour  ?  We  take 
the  first  extract  that  lies  to  our  hand  from  a 
chaplain's  report.     He  says  : — 

'  At  8.50  the  evening  closes  with  "  family 
worship  " — a  short  Scripture  reading  and  prayer 
by  the  chaplain,  after  which  comes  two  minutes 
set  aside  for  silent  prayer,   when  each  man  has 


WHEN  THE  WOUNDED  GO  HOME    137 

his  opportunity  for  offering  the  confessions  and 
petitions  of  his  own  heart.  This  evening  worship 
is  a  very  striking  act.  A  stiff  rule  was  made  at 
the  outset  that  no  man  was  to  wait  to  prayers 
unless  he  wished  to  wait.  They  all  wait.  The 
room  is  ahvays  crowded,  and  the  reverent  hush 
during  those  two  silent  minutes  of  prayer  is  witness 
to  the  value  the  men  place  on  the  act.' 

'  They  all  wait  !  ' 

Our  blessed  Lord  has  taught  us,  in  the  story  of 
the  thief  who  was  saved  in  the  very  act  of  expiring, 
what  salvation  means.  Whoever  turns  his  face 
to  Christ  believingly,  though  it  be  but  for  an 
instant  before  his  death,  finds  eternal  life.  This  is 
the  gospel  in  its  naked  majesty.  There  is  nothing 
to  be  added.  The  life  may  have  been  utterly 
ungodly  and  wicked.  It  was  so  in  the  case  of 
the  dying  robber.  But  when  the  crucified  thief 
turned  in  his  agony  to  the  crucified  Christ,  all  his 
sins  were  instantly  washed  away.  We  can  imagine 
the  Redeemer  turning  His  head  painfully,  with 
love  in  His  dying  eyes,  to  the  poor  suppliant,  and 
we  know  that  He  said  in  His  own  royal  way, 
'  Verily,  I  say  unto  thee,  to-day  shalt  thou  be 
with  Me  in  Paradise.'  Whoever,  even  at  the  hour 
or  the  minute  of  his  death,  believes  in  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  shall  assuredly  be  saved. 


138  PRAYER  IN  WAR  TIME 

But  are  we  to  say  that  this  was  a  soUtary,  or 
at  best  an  exceptional  case  ?  By  no  means.  It 
may  be  that  most  are  saved  in  this  manner.  We 
will  quote  Mr.  Spurgeon.  That  great  Doctor  of 
Grace  says  : — 

'  If  the  thief  was  an  exceptional  case — and  our  Lord 
does  not  usually  act  in  such  a  way — there  would  have 
been  a  hint  given  of  so  important  a  fact.  A  hedge 
would  have  been  set  about  this  exception  to  all  rules. 
Would  not  the  Saviour  have  whispered  quietly  to  the 
dying  man,  "  You  are  the  only  one  I  am  going  to  treat 
in  this  way."  .  .  .  No,  our  Lord  spoke  openly,  and 
those  about  Him  heard  what  He  said.  Moreover,  the 
inspired  penman  has  recorded  it.  If  it  had  been  an 
exceptional  case,  it  would  not  have  been  written  in  the 
Word  of  God.' 

II 

'  When  the  wounded  go  home  ' — how  do  they 
find  it  then  ?  Among  all  the  tender  and  wonder- 
ful words  of  Christ  there  are  none  more  tender 
and  more  wonderful  than  those  :  '  I  go  to  prepare 
a  place  for  you.'  We  cannot  fully  comprehend 
them.  Underneath  are  the  great  abysses  of  the 
Eternal  Love.  How  should  Christ  need  to  pre- 
pare a  place  for  His  people  ?  Is  it  not  enough 
that  they  should  join  Him  where  He  is,  and  behold 
His  glory  ?  But  if  He  is  with  them,  is  it  not 
enough  ?     With   a   word   He   made   earth   fit   for 


WHEN  THE  WOUNDED  GO  HOME    139 

created  man,  but  He  does  not  with  a  word  make 
heaven  fit  for  the  regenerated.  He  goes  to  heaven 
Himself  as  a  loving  host  to  see  everything  set  in 
order  against  their  coming.  These  dear  lads, 
struck  to  the  ground,  came  into  a  world  where  a 
place  was  prepared  for  them.  Before  they  entered 
it  many  a  loving  thought  had  been  given  to  making 
ready  for  them.  The  garments  in  which  they 
were  first  arrayed  were  the  handiwork  of  their 
mothers. 

'  Little  caps  in  secret  sown, 
And  hid  in  many  a  quiet  nook.' 

They  were  received,  most  of  them,  with  the  gladdest 
and  most  loving  welcome.  So  when  they  pass  to 
the  other  side,  to  the  new  country,  they  are  waited 
for.  They  are  expected.  All  the  things  they  need 
are  ready.  Their  needs  are  anticipated  and 
supplied,  and  the  home  of  each  differs  from  the 
home  of  every  other.  Nothing  is  too  good  for 
them.  Everything  must  be  the  best.  Our  Lord 
is  engaged  in  preparing  and  in  interceding.  He 
does  not  take  any  of  His  redeemed  till  the  fruits 
are  all  mellow  and  the  flowers  are  all  full  blown. 

Ill 

Then    they    enter    into    nobler    service.     In    a 
beautiful  little  book.  The  Gospel  of  Hope,  by  Dr. 


140  PRAYER  IN  WAR  TIME 

Walpole,  Bishop  of  Edinburgh,  we  read  of  the 

young   soldier   fallen   in   battle.     '  I   picture   him 

still  going  forward,  only  without  the  limitation  and 

hindrance  that  the  flesh  imposes  on  us  here.'     He 

passes  immediately  into  Paradise,  and  rests  from 

labour,  but  not  from  work.     Everything  is  looked 

at    from    within.     '  Intuition    takes    the    place    of 

sight,  faith  that  of  knowledge.'     '  Every  one  feels 

at   home   at   once ;     there   is   no   strangeness,   no 

gradual    getting    used    to    things,    no    wondering 

whether  you  will  like  it,  for  all  those  old  friends 

which,  though  we  admired  and  praised  on  earth, 

we  constantly  found  escaping  us,  are  there  in  full 

strength.'     We  must  copy  the  beautiful  passage 

in  which  Dr.  Walpole  describes  the  comforting 

greeting  of  the  Divine  Love  to  the  young  soldier 

whose   name   has   been   inscribed    on   the   roll    of 

honour : — 

'  Away  from  thy  home  thou  wentest,  not  knowing 
whither  thou  wentest,  and  so  thou  understandest  My 
going  forth  to  succour  the  world.  In  the  trenches 
thou  hadst  no  cover  for  thy  head,  no  rest  for  thy  limbs, 
and  thou  learncdst  then  the  weariness  of  Him  who  had 
not  where  to  lay  His  head.  For  days  thou  hadst  short 
rations  and  hard  fare,  and  in  uncomplaining  cheerful- 
ness didst  support  the  courage  of  thy  followers ;  and 
so  didst  thou  enter  into  the  Fast  of  the  Son  of  Man. 
Again  and  again  I  saw  thee  in  the  night  watches, 
facing  the  mystery  of  death  and  agonising  in  the  oon- 


WHEN  THE  WOUNDED  GO  HOME     141 

flict  that  it  brought  thee,  and  there  thou  didst  have 
thy  share  in  My  Gethsemane.  And  then  in  obedience 
to  the  call  that  thou  knewest  meant  death  thou  didst 
wiUingiy  lay  down  thy  life,  and  so  hast  learnt  the 
secret  of  Calvary  more  surely  than  a  thousand  books 
could  have  taught  thee.  All  this  was  My  plan  for 
thee,  that  in  a  few  weeks  thou  shouldst  sum  up  the 
whole  of  life,  and  entering  into  the  fellowship  of  My 
sufferings  mightest  share  the  rest  that  leads  to  the 
glory  of  Resurrection.' 

IV 

For  Resurrection  is  the  goal.  Paradise  is  a 
home  of  rest  and  of  joyful  work.  But  it  is  also  a 
preparation  for  the  Resurrection  glory.  The  happy 
spirit  in  the  consummation  is  united  to  the  body. 
The  Resurrection  of  Christ  is  the  guarantee  that 
those  united  to  Him  shall  rise  in  the  day  of  His 
appearing.  For  their  bodies  are  redeemed  as 
truly  as  their  souls,  and  they  shall  come  again 
from  the  land  of  the  enemy,  w^hen  this  corruptible 
puts  on  incorruption,  and  this  mortal  puts  on 
immortality.  Death  admits  the  faithful  to  a 
larger  and  more  loving  life.  But  that  life  is 
crowned  on  the  Resurrection  day  of  which  Easter 
testifies.  Thus  has  Christ  our  Redeemer  opened 
wide  His  hands  and  poured  forth  more  than  gold. 


XIII 
'  THEIR  UN-OVERTAKEABLENESS ' 


'THEIR  UN-OVERTAKEABLENESS' 

Published  April  20,  1916 

An  American  poetess  has  said  that  our  saddest 
thought  of  the  dead  is  the  thought  of  their  un- 
overtakeableness.  They  have  gone  before,  and 
we  cannot  overtake  them.  Who  has  not  at  one 
time  or  another  been  oppressed  by  that  feehng  ? 
The  dead  are  out  of  our  reach,  past  our  touching, 
and  their  new  country  is  a  land  that  is  very  far 
off. 

I 

But  in  the  midst  of  the  troubled  world  we  greet 
once  more  the  dawn  of  Easter,  and  rejoice  in  the 
resurrection  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

We  think  of  the  Sabbath  when  His  body  lay  all 
alone  in  the  rock-hewn  sepulchre,  wrapped  in  fine 
linen,  with  sweet  spices.  We  remember  how  they 
rolled  a  great  stone  at  the  grave's  mouth,  know- 
ing that  He  was  dead.  We  remember  how  at 
the  appointed  time  His  dead  body  was  quickened 
by  the  Father,  how  His  heart  began  again  to 
beat,  how  His  soul  went  back  to  His  bodv,  how 


146  PRAYER  IN  WAR  TIME 

He    led    captivity    captive    and    triumphed    over 
death. 

So  the  new  country  is  not  undiscovered.  One 
Traveller  returned.  He  has  gone  back  and  will 
return  again.  The  third  day  was  the  day  of  His 
first  return  ;  we  know  not  when  He  will  appear  a 
second  time,  without  sin  unto  salvation,  but  the 
hands  of  the  clock  are  moving  towards  the  hour. 
He  promised  ere  He  died  that  He  would  prepare  a 
place  for  His  people,  and  He  returned  to  repeat 
the  promise.  He  is  keeping  it.  He  has  been 
keeping  it  since  the  day  of  His  Ascension.  He 
will  complete  it,  and  all  who  are  His  will  be  with 
Him  there — with  Him  and  with  one  another. 
The  bodies  of  His  people  are  laid  in  the  grave, 
but  their  souls  are  not  in  durance,  and  for  the 
bodies  the  day  of  deliverance  draws  on  apace,  the 
day  when  Christ  will  break  the  seal  of  the  en- 
closing stone  and  set  them  free.  So  the  dead  are 
not  un-overtakeable.  We  shall  come  to  them  one 
by  one  as  our  hour  strikes. 


II 

There  is  more  than  this  to  say.  The  promise 
of  the  consummation  sometimes  chills  us  by  its 
distance.     '  I  know  that  he  shall  rise  again  at  the 


'  THEIR  UN-OVERTAKEABLENESS  '    147 

resurrection  at  the  last  day,'  said  the  sorrowing 
sister.  But  the  words  seemed  to  bring  no  warmth 
or  cheer  to  her  heart.  She  repeated  them  drearily, 
as  if  thinking  of  something  very,  very  distant. 
But  the  New  Testament  comes  to  us  with  its 
cordial,  and  assures  us  that  we  are  come  to  the 
assembly  and  church  of  the  first-born  and  to  the 
spirits  of  just  men  made  perfect.  We  are  come 
to  these,  even  in  our  dying  bodies,  even  in  the  low 
lights  of  time.  Dr.  John  Cairns's  comment  is 
perhaps  the  best :  '  We  are  come  in  indestructible 
unity  and  predestined  association.'  The  unity 
remains  and  cannot  be  broken.  The  association 
is  real  also,  though  in  ways  we  hardly  understand. 
Have  the  victorious  dead  forgotten  us  ?  Are  they 
ignorant  of  us  ?  We  can  trust  them  to  look  with 
compassion  on  our  stumbling  steps,  for  they  know 
how  hard  it  has  been  to  live  since  they  left  us. 
Perhaps  they  join  in  the  intercession  of  the  Great 
High  Priest.  Perhaps  we  receive  from  them  im- 
pulses which  we  cannot  trace.  It  is  not  perhaps 
so  ill  with  us  as  it  might  have  been  without  their 
love.  But  into  this  mystery  we  cannot  go  very 
far.  It  is  much  to  know  that  we  have  overtaken 
them  in  a  manner,  though  we  cannot  touch  them 
as  we  did  because  they  are  ascended.  We  take, 
by  permission,  from  the  Holborn  Review,  a  beautiful 


148  PRAYER  IN  WAR  TIME 

poem  of  the  broken  circle  by  the  late  Miss  Mary 
M.  Sharpe  : 

^  UNDER  ONE  ROOF 

*  Therefore  at  each  moment  can  we  joyfully  exclaim : 
in  spite  of  time,  death,  and  change,  we  are  still  all 
together.' — Schopenhauer. 

Once,  in  days  of  long  ago, 

Days — of  my  whole  life  the  best — 
When  the  time  for  sleep  had  come. 

And  the  house  was  hushed  to  rest, 
It  was  such  a  happy  thought. 

Used  to  make  my  heart  so  light. 
We  were  all  beneath  one  roof 

When  I  barred  the  door  at  night. 

Let  the  wind  moan  as  it  would. 

Let  the  raindrops  patter  fast, 
They  were  near  me,  nestled  warm 

From  the  midnight,  and  the  blast ; 
Not  one  lingering  out  of  reach. 

Not  one  banished  far  aloof — 
It's  a  woman's  heaven  to  have 

All  she  loves  beneath  one  roof 

How  to-night  the  autumn  wind 

Through  the  keyhole  whistles  shrill ; 
It  must  roar  amongst  the  firs 

In  that  graveyard  on  the  hill. 
Dying  leaves  are  whirled  aloft, 

Swaying  branches  knock  the  pane. 
In  the  pauses  of  the  wind 

Listen  I  Oh,  the  rain,  the  rain  ! 


'  TPIEIR  UN-OVERTAKEABLENESS  '    149 

Now,  Avheu  bed-time  comes  at  length 

To  me,  sitting  here  alone, 
And  the  ticking  of  the  clock 

Tells  how  still  the  house  has  grown. 
Oh,  how  heavy  is  the  heart 

That  was  once  so  light  of  yore  ; 
NoAv — I  seem  to  bar  them  out 

When  at  night  I  bar  the  door. 

But  our  Father  surely  needs 

All  His  dear  ones  near  Him  still  ; 
Are  we  not  at  home  with  Him, 

In  the  house,  or  on  the  hill  ? 
So  I  fill  my  empty  heart 

With  the  thought  that,  far  above, 
Over  them,  as  over  me, 

Spreads  one  roof  of  Heavenly  Love. 

So  I  can  go  uj)  to  bed. 

Pass  the  doors  where  once  I  heard 
Gentle  breathing,  as  I  crept 

Softly  by,  without  a  word : 
Though  the  house  is  silent  now, 

Though  they  wish  me  no  good  night — 
We  are  still  beneath  one  roof — 

When  I  bar  the  door  at  niffht. 


Ill 

Also,  ^vhen  we  die  we  overtake  them  at  once, 
and  hold  them  for  our  very  own.  This  hope  is 
rooted  in  Christ,  Who  died  and  rose  again. 
He  gave  the  love  on  both  sides,  and  that  love  is 
immoital  even  when  the  outward  tokens  of  it  are 


150  PRAYER  IN  WAR  TIME 

more  or  less  withdrawn.  There  will  come  a  day 
w^hen  it  shall  have  the  fullest  freedom  for  expres- 
sion and  enjoyment,  freed  from  all  the  mortal 
accidents  that  may  have  hindered,  impaired,  and 
enfeebled  it.  And  this  will  come  through  Christ, 
Who  breaks  down  the  walls  of  partition,  in  the 
Day  when  absent  faces  and  sundered  hearts  shall 
meet  in  Him  Who  gathers  all  into  one. 


XIV 
SUSPENSE 


SUSPENSE 

Published  February  18,  1915 

The  whole  nation  is  in  a  state  of  suspense,  and 
suspense  is  very  hard  to  bear.  With  some  the 
keenness  of  the  suffering  is  far  greater  than  it  is 
with  others,  and  there  may  be  creatures  who 
escape  altogether  the  anxiety  of  the  time.  Would 
that  w^e  could  scarify  such  callosities  !  Suspense 
may  be  defined  as  a  state  of  uncertainty  accom- 
panied with  anxiety  and  expectation.  It  is  very 
difficult  to  live  through  it.  It  is  so  difficult  that 
when  the  suspense  ends,  as  we  hoped  and  prayed 
it  might  end,  the  peace  of  defeat  is,  for  a  short 
time  at  least,  welcome  as  more  tolerable  than  the 
racking  agony  of  waiting.  The  issue  may  be  life 
or  death.  It  may  be  riches  or  ruin.  It  may  be 
honour  or  shame.  We  w^ait  for  it  and  wring  our 
hands  while  the  heart  is  aching.  We  hope  and  we 
fear  by  turns.  The  chief  misery  of  suspense  is 
that,  so  far  as  appears,  we  seem  unable  to  do 
anything — we  are  paralysed  for  the  time. 

There  has  been,  and  there  is  still,  the  suspense 
of  our  fate  as  a  Nation  and  an  Empire.     We  may 

153 


154  PRAYER  IN  WAR  TIME 

hope  that  this  suspense  is  gradually  passing  and 
that  the  guarantees  of  victory  are  being  secured. 
But  some  defeats  are  much  more  disastrous  than 
others,  and  final  defeat  in  this  war  v.ould  be  to 
us  not  only  disastrous  but  absolutely  fatal.  Life 
would  cease  to  be  worth  living.  Men  would  fight 
in  desperation,  and  to  the  last  drop  of  their  blood, 
even  if  they  knew  that  the  effort  was  vain.  We 
may  hope  that  the  triumph  of  the  Allies  is  certain. 
But  even  now  it  is  certain  only  if  we  put  forth  our 
full  strength — the  three-thirds  of  it  for  the  one- 
third  we  have  put  forth  already.  No  one  has  a 
right  to  calculate  on  paying  a  smaller  price  for  a 
happy  decision.  The  worst  of  the  storm  is  not  over, 
and  in  a  sense  the  issue  still  remains  indeterminate. 

There  is,  moreover,  the  suspense  as  to  the  fate 
of  individual  lives.  That  suspense  has  come  to 
a  sorrowful  yet  glorious  end  in  many  instances, 
but  in  many  more  it  is  still  keen,  still  piercing. 
We  would  not  add  to  the  poignancy  of  the  situa- 
tion by  harrowing  details.  The  best  words  are 
the  fewest.  But  the  suspense  holds  in  multitudes 
of  loving  hearts  who  have  little  respite  day  or 
night  in  waiting  for  the  news  to  come. 

There  is  also  suspense  as  to  our  individual 
fortunes.  Life,  it  has  been  said,  is  a  long  holding 
out.     Never  was  the  word  truer  than  it  is  to-day. 


SUSPENSE  155 

How  many  are  cheerfully  accepting  the  stinted 
way  of  living  !  How  much  silent  heroism  there  is 
in  carrying  on  '  business  as  usual '  !  There  would 
not  be  a  murmur  if  the  end  was  in  sight.  But 
even  the  faithful  and  the  brave  are  sometimes  sick 
with  suspense  when  they  read  of  five  years'  possible 
testing,  and  the  like.  What  will  remain  for  them 
if  their  incomes  keep  crumbling  away  ?  They 
cannot  hope  for  anything  but  utter  shipwreck  if 
this  be  so. 

Can  anything  be  done  to  make  suspense  more 
easy,  less  destructive  to  happiness  ?  Is  there  any 
way  in  w^hich  suspense  can  be  made  morally  and 
spiritually  fruitful  ? 

I 

Suspense  may  be  ended  in  many  cases  by  simply 
obeying  the  call  of  duty  and  venturing  life  itself. 
Those  who  have  volunteered  and  gone  out  to  the 
battle,  often  after  long  perplexities  and  ponderings, 
seem  to  enjoy  a  singular  rest  of  heart.  This  is 
the  universal  testimony  of  those  who  have  met 
the  men  while  they  have  been  home  on  furlough 
or  have  seen  them  in  the  hospitals.  They  are 
exhilarated  with  the  assurance  that  they  have  done 
their  utmost.  They  have  been  in  the  trenches, 
they  have  been  under  fire,   they  have  given  all 


156  PRAYER  IN  WAR  TIME 

they  had  to  give.  They  have  committed  their 
case  to  God  and  they  are  tranquil.  Nay,  they 
sometimes  laugh  and  play  like  children — so 
blessed  is  duty  and  so  happy  are  those  who  take 
the  high  road. 

On  the  other  hand,  those  who  ought  to  go,  and 
in  their  hearts  know  it,  are  the  most  miserable 
of  men.  We  are  not  speaking  of  cowards,  or  of 
those  in  whom  the  sense  of  honour  is  dead.  We 
are  speaking  of  the  Shirkers.  Let  us  be  very 
careful  and  very  charitable  in  assigning  that 
name.  But  every  one  knows  that  even  in  this 
dread  hour  the  Shirkers  are  to  be  found  all  over 
the  country.  They  are  often  honourable  men, 
but  they  shrink  from  the  great  sacrifice.  There 
is  so  much  to  detain  them.  There  are  so  many 
ties  to  break.  There  are  so  many  plausible  reasons 
for  remaining,  so  many  passable  excuses,  that 
they  persuade  themselves  that  their  place  is  at 
home.  But  they  have  no  peace  day  nor  night. 
If  they  were  to  tell  the  truth  they  would  say  : 

'  Sir^  at  my  heart  there  was  a  kind  of  fighting 
That  would  not  let  me  sleep.' 

But  perhaps,  quite  possibly,  no  one  says  anything 
to  them.  They  are  the  subject  of  incessant  con- 
versation  behind  their  backs,   but   they   are  not 


SUSPENSE  157 

directly  appealed  to.  They  can  read,  however, 
the  faces  of  their  friends  and  neighbours,  and  they 
know  what  these  are  thinking.  Sometimes  they 
get  a  gleam  of  comfort  and  shelter  under  such 
pretexts  as  this  :  '  Lord  Kitchener  is  well 
satisfied  with  the  supply  of  recruits.'  But  there 
is  no  rest  for  them.  They  are  in  suspense,  cease- 
lessly urged  by  the  new  calls  of  each  day,  and  their 
suspense  can  be  ended  rightly  only  in  one  manner. 
As  we  write,  the  evening  paper  comes  in,  and  we 
read  in  it  of  the  inquest  on  a  man  who  was  found 
drowned  the  other  day.  We  make  an  extract 
from  the  evidence  : — 

The  Coroner :  '  Was  he  depressed  over  the 
war  ?  ' 

The  witness  replied  that  deceased  rather  dreaded 
the  idea  of  having  to  go.  'I  think  the  war  worried 
him,'  he  said. 

The  Coroner :  '  Did  he  speak  about  joining  the 
Army  ?  ' 

Witness :  '  Once  or  twice  he  said  he  would  like 
to  join,  but  he  did  not  seem  determined  about  it.' 

When  the  light  is  dim  and  the  seas  run  high, 
and  the  deadly  sough  is  heard  from  every  head- 
land, the  sailors  say  little.  They  address  them- 
selves to  their  task.  What  is  uppermost  is  the 
duty    of   the    individual    man — the    duty    of   the 


158  PRAYER  IN  WAR  TIME 

passing  hour.  He  must  have  a  bhnd  eye  for  danger. 
He  must  not  be  disposed  to  count  the  odds  in  a 
righteous  cause.  His  business  is,  at  whatever 
risk  or  cost,  to  play  a  manly  part.  He  must 
bring  to  bear  the  strength  of  a  resolute  will  on  the 
conditions  which  he  finds.  It  is  not  for  him  to 
lament  that  the  equipment  of  the  ship  is  not  up 
to  date.  A  good  workman  does  not  quarrel  with 
his  tools,  but  makes  the  best  of  them.  Further, 
a  good  workman,  a  good  sailor,  a  good  soldier, 
does  his  duty  as  if  the  whole  result  of  the  struggle 
depended  wholly  upon  himself. 

A  brave  man  will  not  hold  back  from  making 
his  sacrifice  because  so  many  have  made  their 
sacrifice.  He  will  not  allow  them  to  shield  him. 
He  will  join  them  and  help  them  to  shield  the 
rest — those  who  cannot  fight.  Nobody  knows 
what  he  may  be  worth.  '  There  was  a  little  city 
and  few  men  within  it.  And  there  came  a  great 
king  against  it,  and  besieged  it,  and  built  great 
bulwarks  against  it.  Now  there  was  found  in  it 
a  poor  wise  man,  and  he  by  his  wisdom  delivered 
the  city.' 

But  most  of  us  cannot  under  any  circumstances 
go  to  war.  The  exempted  include  all  w^omen  and 
many  men.  For  each  of  them  the  question  is, 
What  am  I  doing  ?     Can  we  say,  all  of  us,  that  we 


SUSPENSE  159 

have  done  what  we  could  ?  We  verily  believe 
that  this  is  true  of  many  women.  Women  have 
acquitted  themselves  nobly  in  this  war,  and  have 
earned,  in  our  judgment,  the  right  to  vote.  We 
think  it  may  also  be  said  of  the  majority  of  men, 
that  they  have  recognised  and  performed  their 
duty.  They  have  joyfully  submitted  to  great 
sacrifices,  and  they  are  prepared  to  submit  to 
greater  sacrifices  still.  Above  all,  we  honour  the 
parents  who  proudly  and  sorrowfully  have  given 
their  sons  to  the  fight.  But  we  are  afraid  there 
are  not  a  few  who  have  hung  back.  There  are 
wretches  who  have  done  what  they  could  to  dis- 
courage and  disable  the  men  who  were  shielding 
them,  but  happily  these  are  few.  There  are 
others,  and  they  are  more  numerous,  who  have 
selfishly  and  apathetically  refused  their  aid.  We 
could  still  wish  that  it  were  found  possible  to 
penalise  the  defaulters,  and  we  rejoice  that  public 
opinion  is  strengthening  and  setting  against  them. 
The  brunt  of  the  battle  is  on  those  soldiers  and 
sailors  who  are  really  engaged  in  the  conflict,  but 
shall  we  disparage  the  statesmen,  the  financiers, 
the  preachers,  the  business  men  who  are  freely 
and  gladly  giving  their  time,  their  thought,  their 
energy,  and  their  whole  hearts  in  the  service  of 
the  country  they  love  so  well  ? 


160  PRAYER  IN  WAR  TIME 

We  must  say  a  word,  though  it  is  only  a  word, 
on  the  function  of  prayer.  At  a  time  hke  this 
prayer  brings  rehef  and  power.  Even  in  the  most 
agonising  suspense  a  strange  peace  is  bestowed 
by  Christ  in  answer  to  suppKcation,  and  He 
redeems  the  word  He  spoke  when  He  said  :  '  Not 
as  the  world  giveth  give  I  unto  you.'  We  shall 
never  know  all  the  forces  that  are  working  in  this 
strife,  but  the  most  powerful  of  all  forces  may 
very  well  be  the  force  of  wrestling,  •believing 
prayer. 

II 

We  must  touch  briefly  on  the  wrong  ways  of 
mitigating  the  agony  of  suspense.  There  are 
poor,  fretful,  futile  ways.  A  traveller  who  has 
only  given  himself  the  shortest  space  of  time  to 
catch  a  train  finds  that  his  carriage  is  blocked. 
What  use  is  it  if  he  gives  silly  advice  to  the  driver, 
if  he  is  fidgety  and  impatient,  if  he  lashes  himself 
into  a  fever  by  giving  orders  that  cannot  possibly 
be  fulfilled.  It  is  a  poor  business  to  keep  on 
buying  successive  editions  of  papers  with  no  news 
in  them.  Suspense  must  be  combated  in  a  more 
dignified  way.  It  is  right — it  is  very  right — that 
the  sufferer  should  seek  genial  society,  and  it  is 
not  hard  to  find  it  in  these  days,  when  we  are  all 


SUSPENSE  161 

wrapped  more  or  less  in  the  same  thunder-cloud. 
Books  will  often  furnish  a  most  helpful  relief. 
But  we  cannot  contemplate  with  any  pleasure  the 
continuance  of  such  things  as  football  and  horse- 
racing  in  a  time  of  war.  They  hopelessly  violate 
the  sense  of  fitness.  They  show  an  entire  con- 
tempt of  the  seriousness  of  the  situation.  These 
sports  are  often  practised  by  men  who,  if  they  had 
a  spark  of  manhood  in  them,  would  be  out  at  the 
Front.  Above  all  things  we  must  learn,  in  George 
Eliot's  phrase,  '  to  do  without  opium.'  There 
are  forbidden  remedies  which  bring  no  healing, 
and  which  degrade  the  souls  and  the  bodies  of 
those  who  have  recourse  to  them.  Anodynes  and 
stimulants  may  have  their  place  to  fill,  but  they 
are  full  of  danger  in  such  a  time  as  this. 

Ill 

For  God  means  us  to  bear  the  suspense,  to 
confront  it,  and  to  use  it.  It  is  good  for  us  to 
look  the  possible  impending  calamity  in  the  face. 
The  darker  alternative  is  to  be  encountered. 
'  She  may  not  survive  this  operation.'  Then  it  is 
well  that  we  should  prepare  to  meet  the  trouble 
in  the  spirit  of  submission  and  faith.  We  must 
not  try  to  cheat  the  supreme  moment  of  its  true 


162  PRAYER  IX  WAR  TIME 

intensity.  We  shall  bear  the  blow  better,  if  it 
must  come,  because  we  have  anticipated  it  in 
thoucrht.  And  if  the  blow  does  not  fall,  if  the 
calamity  is  averted,  what  lights,  new  lights,  should 
fall  on  the  preciousness  of  what  is  given  back  to 
us  !  We  may  learn  for  the  first  time  how  miser- 
ably we  have  failed  in  thankfulness  for  our  dearest 
possessions.  There  was,  it  may  be,  no  want  of 
love,  but  there  was  little  expression  of  love.  What 
is  restored  to  us  should  be  cherished  and  treasured 
as  it  never  was  before.  How  we  went  back  in 
the  searching  ordeal  on  the  security  that  was  once 
ours,  in  a  tin>e  which  seems  infinitely  remote  ! 
How  little  we  praised  God  for  our  prosperity  and 
peace  !  Blessed  are  those  whose  dear  ones  will 
return.  With  what  wealth  of  love  they  vdW  be 
received !  But  blessed  also  are  those  whose 
beloved  die  on  the  field  of  battle,  if  they  are  taught 
thereby  to  reahse  the  illimitable  resources  of  the 
Divine  Love  and  its  quick  response  to  human 
faith  and  need. 


XV 
EXDURAXCE 


ENDURANCE 

Published  June  24,  1915 

In  his  recent  impressive  speech  the  Prime  Minister 
laid  proper  stress  on  the  twin  thoughts  that  must 
be  in  our  minds  while  the  war  lasts.  We  must,  in 
the  first  place,  have  a  due  sense  of  the  gravity 
and  peril  of  our  situation.  We  must,  in  the 
second  place,  cherish  an  abiding  confidence  in  the 
issue.  There  are  those  who  consider  it  their  duty 
to  prevent  panic,  which  is  quite  right,  and  believe 
that  the  best  way  to  prevent  it  is  to  deny  danger, 
which  is  quite  wrong.  When  the  air  is  electric 
people  feel  danger,  and  the  weather  prophets  may 
prophesy  smooth  things  without  inducing  anybody 
to  put  to  sea. 

Mr.  AsQUiTH  also  said  truly  and  beautifully 
that  this  war  was  to  be  a  w^ar  of  endurance,  and 
that  we  must  see  to  it  that  we  endured  to  the 
end.  It  is  written,  '  He  that  endureth  to  the 
end,  the  same  shall  be  saved,'  and  this  is  a  text 
by  which  we  must  fortify  ourselves  against  the 
storms  to  come. 

166 


166  PRAYER  IN  WAR  TIME 

I 

What  is  endurance  in  the  Christian  sense  ? 
There  are  two  constituents  of  the  Christian  endur- 
ance, or  of  the  Christian  patience.  One  is  active 
and  one  is  passive.  But  we  beUeve  that  the 
element  of  activity  is  never  absent  from  the  true 
patience.  We  are  summoned  to  run  with  patience 
the  race  that  is  set  before  us.  The  image  of  the 
patient  runner  is  not  commonly  realised  except 
by  thoughtful  readers.  Running  seems  to  be  an 
exercise  incompatible  with  patience,  and  patience 
is  too  often  regarded  as  mere  passivity  under 
suffering  and  wrong.  In  reality  it  is  as  active 
a  virtue  as  any. 

It  is  worth  while  to  consider  the  Biblical  con- 
ception. In  order  to  run  our  race  patiently  and 
triumphantly  we  must  begin  by  stripping  ourselves. 
All  that  hinders  our  running  must  be  put  aside. 
We  must  be  done  with  the  sin  that  easily  besets 
us,  and  we  must  be  done  even  with  the  weights 
which  we  are  wont  to  carry  in  the  ordinary  course 
of  existence.  They  are  too  heavy  for  such  a 
business  as  that  to  which  we  are  set.  We  must 
cease  to  concern  ourselves  with  the  anxieties  and 
amusements,  resentments,  ambitions,  desires, 
which    in    quieter    times    so    largely    filled    our 


ENDURANCE  167 

thoughts.  We  must  struggle  against  and  master 
every  kind  of  evil.  All  must  be  laid  aside  to  the 
last  ounce.  Every  grain  of  selfishness,  every  rag 
of  sin,  must  be  done  with.  Thoughts  of  pleasure, 
profit,  preferment,  and  distinction  must  be  dis- 
missed. The  race  is  too  hard  for  us  otherwise. 
We  are  limping  mortals,  and  soon  exhaust  our 
strength  if  we  fail  rightly  to  husband  it  and  to  use 
it.  '  He  that  endureth  to  the  end,  the  same  shall 
be  saved,'  but  no  other.  By  the  time  the  race  is 
closed  one  has  tripped,  another  faints,  a  third  is 
out  of  breath,  and  others  are  far  behind.  It  must 
not  be  so  with  us  in  the  tremendous  struggle  to 
which  we  are  committed  now. 

Napoleon  said,  '  Conquest  made  me  what  I  am, 
and  conquest  must  maintain  me.'  Conquest  has 
made  us  what  we  are,  and  we  are  too  apt  to  forget 
that  conquest  must  maintain  us.  The  passion 
for  ease  and  comfort  and  the  continuance  of 
things  as  they  are  has  grown  so  strong  among  the 
prosperous  of  our  nation  that  it  is  destructively 
angry  when  anything  interferes  with  it.  It  is  like 
the  Eastern  who  thought  to  ignore  death.  '  None 
might  enter  the  king's  gate  clothed  in  sackcloth.' 
It  is  afraid  to  face  the  truth,  and  is  impatient  of 
those  who  would  break  its  security.  Such  faith  as 
lingers  in  this  temper  of  mind  is  rudely  shaken 


168  PRAYER  IN  WAR  TIME 

when  the  stern  facts  of  the  world  come  to  Hght. 
It  would  arraign  providence,  or  at  least  doubt 
providence,  under  the  experience  of  such  things. 
It  would  punish  the  heavens  for  hailing  if  it  could. 
But  we  are  happily  in  the  process  of  liberation 
from  these  lower  frames  of  mind. 

We  must  not  only  run,  and  run  with  patience, 
but  we  must  set  our  eyes  on  the  goal.  For  the 
moment  let  us  say  that  our  goal  is  victory,  the 
winning  of  this  war.  Every  other  consideration 
must  yield  to  this.  The  old  moralist  said,  '  Straight 
forward  is  the  best  running,'  and  he  spoke  well. 
We  shall  go  under  if  we  turn  aside  to  political 
controversies,  or,  what  is  much  baser,  personal 
recriminations.  Difference  of  opinion  there  must 
be,  but  let  us  differ  from  one  another  as  those 
drawn  together  under  the  shadow  and  the  pressure 
of  the  wild  weather.  Political  convictions  which 
we  have  held  and  advocated  and  fought  for  during 
a  whole  lifetime  are  hard  indeed  to  set  aside 
even  momentarily,  but  the  thing  must  be  done. 
Runners  cannot  afford  to  sit  down  and  pause. 
We  must  have  one  object,  one  thought,  one  goal, 
one  passion.  For  the  sake  of  that  we  must '  be 
prepared  to  sacrifice  everything — our  dear  ones, 
our  possessions,  our  very  life.  We  must  be 
daunted   by   no   difficulties.     We   must   refuse   to 


ENDURANCE  169 

give  way  even  to  what  appears  inevitable.  We 
must,  as  far  as  we  can,  act  in  the  beUef  that 
everything  that  stands  in  the  way  of  victory  can 
be  prevented  or  remedied,  and  ought  to  be  pre- 
\  ented  or  remedied. 

If  we  go  to  work  in  this  spirit  we  must  succeed. 
A  divided  heart  is  an  unhappy  heart.  A  heart 
that  is  whole  and  single  and  utterly  disinterested 
is  happy,  whatever  may  befall.  None  of  us  knows 
the  reserves,  the  inward  resources,  of  men  and 
women  when  they  are  reinforced  by  grace  and 
called  out  by  duty.  Devoting  ourselves  to  the 
supreme  end,  we  shall  find  that  we  did  not  know 
what  our  full  strength  was.  Nay,  we  shall  find 
a  buoyant  inner  strength  welling  up  from  deep 
fountains  of  being.  The  spirit  of  the  runner  will 
rise  as  the  race  goes  on,  and  make  all  yokes  easy 
and  all  burdens  light. 

II 

We  must  endure  '  as  seeing  Him  Who  is  invisible.' 
Or,  as  the  New  Testament  has  it,  '  we  must 
run  with  patience  the  race  that  is  set  before 
us,  looking  unto  Jesus,  the  author  and  finisher 
of  our  faith.' 

We  do  verily  believe  that  in  spite  of  all  appear- 
ances this  nation  has  hitherto  been  strengthened 


170  PRAYER  IN  WAR  TIME 

for  its  great  task  by  faith  in  the  love  and  in  the 
righteousness  of  God.  Our  consciences  acquit  us 
of  all  desire  for  war,  and  of  all  intention  to  annex 
the  possessions  of  other  nations.  We  have  stood 
for  liberty  and  for  justice,  and  for  right  as  opposed 
to  might.  We  have  done  all  this,  and  we  have 
done  it  at  a  great  price.  We  humbly  believe  that 
if  we  do  our  part  we  shall  not  be  without  rein- 
forcements from  the  higher  Will  that  rules,  that 
Will  of  God  which  is  most  clearly  manifested  in 
the  life  and  death  and  resurrection  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ. 

That  faith  is  nearer  the  hearts  of  our  people 
than  many  have  been  wont  to  imagine.  It  has 
nerved  our  soldiers  on  the  field,  it  has  comforted 
the  lonely  and  anxious  watchers  at  home.  It 
has  not,  we  hope,  induced  any  one  to  believe  that 
without  doing  our  utmost  we  can  attain  the  prize. 
But  secretly  and  silently  it  has  done,  and  will  do, 
its  work  in  sustaining  the  nation  and  in  preparing 
it  for  the  duties  and  the  burdens  and  the  sufferings 
that  lie  concealed. 

For  Christian  endurance  is  not  fatalism.  Fatal- 
ism, as  we  take  it,  does  not  mean  patience,  nor 
resignation,  nor  submission,  but  acquiescence  pro- 
duced by  a  belief  that  a  blind  power — necessity — 
rules   everything.     It   involves   a   denial   both   of 


ENDURANCE  171 

science  and  religion.  It  finds  an  almost  perfect 
example  in  the  story  of  a  Turkish  regiment  sur- 
rounded by  Greeks  in  an  amphitheatre  of  hills, 
who  sat  down  and  died  patiently  of  starvation. 
No,  we  say,  faith  in  God  is  a  faith  in  righteous 
love.  It  is  a  faith  in  communion,  it  is  a  faith  in 
prayer,  in  the  answer  to  prayer.  It  is  such  a 
faith  as  will  enable  those  who  hold  it  to  go  on  to 
the  last,  to  struggle  with  adversity,  even  when 
little  hope  remains.  It  is  a  faith  that  teaches 
endurance  as  an  art  to  be  acquired  like  any  other 
by  practice — in  this  case  by  the  practice  of  the 
presence  of  God.  It  teaches  men  and  women 
to  rise  above  bodily  pain,  to  control  the  useless 
fret  and  chafing  against  it.  It  makes  us  all  like 
soldiers  in  the  battlefield,  who  resolutely  acquire 
the  art  of  bearing  pain  as  well  as  it  can  be  borne, 
who  find  a  special  and  incommunicable  joy  in  the 
victory  of  the  spirit  over  the  flesh.  We  hate  and 
fear  that  form  of  false  endurance  which  is  a  sullen 
submissiveness  to  unknown  powers,  of  cowering 
resignation  under  the  pitiless  but  inevitable  forces 
of  the  universe.  Minds  imbued  with  this  con- 
yiction  are  paralysed.  They  come  to  beheve  that 
war  and  pestilence  and  murder  and  every  form 
of  evil  will  continue  while  the  race  lasts,  that 
things  are  without  remedy,  and  that  to  dream  of 


172  PRAYER  IN  WAR  TIME 

improving  human  affairs  is  to  dream  of  forcing 
water  uphill. 

Christian  endurance  is  quite  another  thing. 
We  have  defined  it,  but  not  completely.  There 
is  in  Christian  endurance  a  real  element  of  resigna- 
tion. We  have  very  often  to  put  out  our  whole 
strength  and  to  exhaust  ourselves  in  passionate 
pleading,  and,  to  all  appearance,  in  vain.  We 
have  to  suppress  our  will  before  a  higher  Power. 
We  have  to  submit  to  the  inevitable  without 
whining.  Nay,  we  have  to  rejoice  in  adversity 
and  defeat,  and  to  maintain  our  faith  in  the 
presence  of  both.  But  the  Christian  resignation, 
no  matter  how  complete  and  triumphant,  has 
always  in  it  an  element  of  activity.  It  is  never  a 
dead  acquiescence.  It  is  a  way  of  coming  near  to 
God,  and  discovering  in  that  approach  that  He 
means  for  us  some  better  thing  than  that  which  was 
denied.  This  is  the  great  wonder  and  secret  of 
the  higher  life,  given  only  to  those  who  come  with 
bleeding  feet  and  with  hearts  that  have  been 
laden  with  sorrow.  They  know  that  Right  must 
win  at  the  last,  even  if  for  a  time  it  may  be  over- 
borne. What  is  really  of  God  may  lie  for  a  season 
under  the  shadow  of  the  Cross,  but  only  for  a 
season,  and  he  that  endureth  to  the  end,  the  same 
shall  be  saved. 


ENDURANCE  173 

III 

All  we  are  passing  through  teaches  us  that 
elevation,  and  not  happiness,  is  the  object  of  the 
grand  plan.  It  teaches  us  also  to  hope  mightily 
for  the  day  to  be,  to  hope  for  this  world  and  for 
the  next.  Before  the  war  the  music  of  the  word 
'  eternity '  had  ceased  to  mean  much  to  this 
generation.  To  many  it  now  means  everything. 
The  new  world  balances  the  old  and  far  outweighs 
it.  As  life  nears  its  ending  we  think  of  the  friends 
of  long  ago.  Some  of  them  are  still  in  this  land 
of  the  dying — buffeted,  scattered,  world-worn,  and 
waysore.  Some  have  won  to  the  hill  where  Moses 
stood,  and  have  seen  a  goodlier  prospect  than  this 
earth  can  show.  But  so  many  have  gone  and  so 
many  are  going  in  the  springtide  of  their  promise. 
Those  on  whom  we  have  lavished  our  care,  to  whom 
we  looked  to  take  our  places,  do  better  than  we 
have  done  the  w^ork  of  God  in  this  world,  are 
entering  in  before  us.  And  what  are  we  to  say  ? 
Why,  this — that  all  the  teeming  thoughts  of  life 
and  hope  which  were  embodied  in  our  homes 
have  not  come  to  an  end  because  the  dear  ones 
have  died.  There  is  the  infinite  extension  of 
thought  and  love  and  hope  in  the  w^orld  that  is 
not   perishable.     The   imseen   land   to   which    we 


174  PRAYER  IN  WAR  TIME 

hasten  gives  meaning  to  the  fair  but  transient 
world  of  time.  So  we  press  forward  to  Eternity, 
our  refuge.  We  press  forward  to  meet  tlie  great 
reahties,  to  grapple  with  them,  to  wrestle  with 
them,  to  hold  them  till  we  know  their  name. 
Death  is  the  entrance  to  Eternity,  the  giver  of 
life,  the  angel  of  fulfilled  humanity. 


XVI 
THE  ACCEPTANCE  OF  SACRIFICE 


THE  ACCEPTANCE  OF  SACRIFICE 

Published  April  13,  1916 

Much  is  thought  and  said  in  these  days  about 
the  offering  of  sacrifice.  An  equally  vital  subject, 
which  we  propose  to  discuss,  is  the  acceptance  of 
sacrifice. 

I 

All  Christians^agree  that  we  must  accept  the 
sacrifice  of  Christ  for  our  sins.  We  can  do  no 
other.  By  His  doing  and  dying  He  achieved  for 
men  what  they  could  not  achieve  for  themselves. 
In  Him  we  have  redemption  through  His  blood, 
even  the  forgiveness  of  sins.  We  rest  upon  Him 
^Vhom  God  has  set  forth  to  be  the  propitiation. 
So  resting  we  are  free  from  condemnation.  We 
are  free  because  He  was  condemned  in  our  stead, 
because  He  carried  all  our  load  to  the  Cross.  So 
dying  He  was  our  substitute,  securing  for  us 
deliverance  from  sin  in  its  guilt,  in  its  power,  and 
in  its  penalty.  To  understand  this  is  to  attain 
to  that  reaching  and  touching  of  Christ  which 
means  salvation. 

But  this  is  not  all.     When  we  accept  as  our  own 

M 


178  PRAYER  IX  WAR  TIME 

the  sacrifice  and  oblation  for  the  sin  of  the  world, 
^ye  accept  it  in  the  sacrificial  temper.     We  identify 
ourselves  with  the  Divine  suffering.     Each  heart 
says  Amen  to  God  in  Christ.     Our  deliverance 
does  not  liberate  us  from  sacrifice  ;   rather  it  binds 
us  to  sacrifice.     St.  Paul,  the  great  preacher  of  the 
Cross,   after  celebrating  the  solitary  achievement 
of  the  Head  of  the  body,  the  Church,  Who  is  the 
beginning  and  the  first-born  from  the  dead,  says 
that  he  now  rejoices  in  his  sufferings  for  his  fellow - 
believers,  and  fills  up  that  which  is  behind  of  the 
sufferings  of  Christ  in  his  flesh,   for  His  body's 
sake,   which   is   the  Church.     St.   Paul   cast   his 
thoughts    to    the    future.     He    knew    that    much 
would  happen  to  break  the  quiet  that  comes  from 
trust  in  Christ.     He  knew  that  there  was  before 
liim  a  life  of  conflict  and  suffering.     He  had  to 
bear   his   full   part   in   these.     He   had   to   renew 
again  and  again  his  struggle  with  the  Black  Watch 
of  evil.     Every  inch  of  the  road  that  stretched 
between  him  and  the  cross  whereon  he  was  to  die 
swarmed  with  foemen.     He  had  in  his  soul  a  deep 
and  unbroken  rest,  but  the  rest  was  not  on  the 
surface  but  in  the  depths.     So  he  girded  himself, 
as  did  the  Heir  of  all  things,  to  service  and  to 
sacrifice.     He  seemed  to  think  of  the  sacrifice  that 
was  to  come  as  a  drop  in  the  measure  which  had 


THE  ACCEPTANCE  OF  SACRIFICE     ITC^ 

to  be  filled  up  till  it  ran  over.  When  he  speaks  of 
that  which  is  behind  of  the  afflictions  of  Christ^ 
he  does  not  refer  merely  to  sufferings  borne  for 
Christ.  He  means  sufferings  borne  for  Christ 
and  with  Christ.  The  Church  is  Christ's  Body, 
and  so  the  sorrows  of  the  members  are  the  sorrows 
of  the  Head.  They  are  shared  mth  Christ  and 
accepted  with  Christ,  and  they  are  not  to  last  for 
ever,  for  the  day  will  come  when  they  will  be  over- 
past. So  the  holy  Apostle  looked  forward.  He 
remembered  the  Voice  that  called  to  him  at  the 
beginning  of  his  Christian  dedication,  '  Saul,  Saul,, 
why  persecutest  thou  Me  ?  '  and  he  understood 
how  the  Master  identifies  Himself  with  His  people 
and  is  still  afflicted  in  their  afflictions.  St.  Paul 
knew  what  the  worst  would  be,  and  he  had  gauged 
and  stilled  his  fears.  Great  storms  were  out  ; 
but  they  could  do  no  more  than  destroy  the  frail 
tent  of  the  poor  body  and  set  the  spirit  free  for  the 
house  not  made  with  hands,  eternal  in  the  heavens^ 

II 

We  pass  on  to  consider  the  acceptance  of  sacrifice 
from  our  fellow-creatures.  The  subject  is  not 
altogether  free  from  difficulty.  We  are  all  agreed 
that  unselfishness  is  the  practical  test  of  character. 
We  may  call  it  what  we  please — ^brotherly  kindness. 


180  PRAYER  IN  WAR  TIME 

charity,  humanity,  benevolence,  beneficence,  or 
generosity.  But  the  sacrifice  of  self  is  a  cardinal 
doctrine  and  precept  of  the  New  Testament.  We 
do  not,  however,  accept  the  watchword  of  the 
positivist  philosophy,  which  used  to  be  '  Live  for 
others.'  This  motto  was  intended  to  supersede 
the  standard  of  Christian  duty.  It  was  intended 
to  embody  the  aspirations  of  all  generous  natures 
and  to  span  the  chasm  of  warring  creeds.  But 
while  we  cannot  too  earnestly,  too  simply,  too 
humbly,  too  unreservedly  accept  the  sacrifice  of 
Christ  in  our  room,  we  must  be  very  slow  in 
accepting  the  sacrifices  of  others. 

It  is  true  that  the  best  life  is  the  service  of  our 
fellows.  The  most  selfish  are  the  readiest  to 
condemn  selfishness.  All  the  same,  we  must  be 
careful  to  distinguish.  Some  time  ago  we  dis- 
cussed the  effect  on  those  who  consciously  devote 
themselves  to  live  for  others — ^the  effects  that 
result  from  that  devotion.  We  now  wish  to  call 
attention  more  particularly  to  the  effects  produced 
on  those  who  are  always  accepting  and  always 
looking  for  the  sacrifice  of  others  on  their  behalf. 

We  need  not  say  much  about  unselfishness  in  the 
small  details  of  life.  If  people  are  to  be  happy 
they  must  learn  the  art  of  living  together.  In 
order  to  do  this  without  friction  there  must  be  give 


THE  ACCEPTANCE  OF  SACRIFICE     181 

and  take.  Only  we  should  hesitate  to  apply  such 
a  word  as  sacrifice  to  these  small  everyday 
surrenders  which  are  so  easy  to  those  who  love. 
But  we  soon  come  to  graver  problems.  Parents 
very  often  make  sacrifices  for  their  children  which 
may  be  beyond  the  line  of  obligation.  We  have 
all  known  fathers  and  mothers  who  impoverish 
and  stint  their  lives  for  the  education  of  their 
children  in  fashionable  schools  and  colleges,  and  go 
on  year  after  year  in  supplying  to  their  sons  and 
daughters  what  they  themselves  never  enjoyed. 
There  comes  a  point  where  the  sacrifice  should  be 
refused.  It  should  always  be  accepted  with  a  full 
sense  of  what  it  involves,  witii  a  careful  watching 
of  the  stooping  which  comes  to  those  who  bear 
more  than  they  can  well  carry.  It  should  be 
accepted  with  profound  gratitude  and  with  the 
determination  that,  in  so  far  as  it  is  possible,  it 
shall  be  fully  requited.  Even  when  this  is  done, 
we  repeat  that  there  comes  a  day  when  manifestly 
it  ought  no  longer  to  be  accepted. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  is  quite  possible  that 
children  may  sacrifice  too  much  to  their  parents. 
A  mother  is  left  alone  in  the  world  save  for  a 
loving  daughter,  and  as  years  pass  comes  to  lean 
more  and  more  on  that  daughter's  service  and 
affection.     A    day    comes    when    the    daughter   is 


182  PRAYER  IN  WAR  TIME 

claimed  by  a  stranger,  and  all  her  heart  goes  out 
to  meet  the  claim.  She  refuses,  nevertheless. 
She  considers  that  her  first  duty  is  to  her  mother, 
and  she  resigns  herself  to  a  lonely  life,  which  is 
none  the  lighter  because  she  remembers  that  it 
was  by  her  own  choice  that  it  continued  to  be 
lonely. 

We  say  that  those  sacrifices  of  children  ought 
not  to  be  accepted.  One  might  imagine  that  the 
acceptance  of  such  sacrifices  was  wholly  impossible 
to  really  noble  and  unselfish  natures.  It  may  be 
so,  but  any  one  who  thinks  and  observes  sees  how 
many  are  wearily  and  dutifully  carrying  out  a 
life  subject  to  constant  demands  from  others. 
There  are  persons  who  live  as  vampires  live,  by 
absorbing  the  young  life  that  is  near  to  them. 

Also,  it  used  to  be  widely  held  that  women  in 
particular  should  live  for  others.  Perhaps  this 
belongs  to  the  past.  We  hope  so.  One  of  the 
great  preachers  of  altruism  was  James  Hinton,  a 
really  good  man  in  spite  of  his  aberrations  of 
thought.  He  imagined  that  his  work  as  a  writer 
was  of  supreme  importance  to  the  world,  and 
brought  his  poor  wife  into  great  straits.  We  are 
told  that  when  the  family  exchequer  was  almost 
empty  he  took  to  descanting  on  the  seemliness  of 
death  by  hunger,  and  the  clear  advantage  he  would 


THE  ACCEPTANCE  OF  SACRIFICE    186 

derive  from  being  driven  to  desperation.  All  that 
James  Hinton  ever  wrote  was  not  worth  the 
sacrifice  of  a  woman's  life  for  a  single  year.  We 
need  not  multiply  instances.  What  we  have  to 
do  is  to  think  over  our  own  lives,  and  to  see  that 
those  near  us  are  sacrificing  as  little  as  may  be  to 
our  tastes  and  fancies. 

Ill 

All  this  bears  very  directly  on  the  urgent  ques- 
tions of  the  day. 

Many  of  us — most  of  us — must  at  the  present 
time  accept  the  tremendous  sacrifice  of  our  soldiers, 
our  sailors,  our  aviators.  We  do  not  need  to  give 
the  harrowing  picture  of  the  lives  they  are  living 
with  such  gallantry  and  cheerfulness  on  the  very 
edge  of  death — in  jeopardy  every  hour  and  every 
minute.  We  have  to  accept  the  sacrifices,  but 
we  are  constrained  by  every  consideration  of 
honour  and  gratitude  to  accept  them  in  a  sacrificial 
temper.  We  must,  so  far  as  in  us  lies,  carry 
out  their  supreme  sacrifice  in  the  infinitely  quieter 
and  more  easily  endured  sacrifices  of  our  daily 
life.  Are  we  aware  of  what  we  are  doing  in  the 
acceptance  of  their  sacrifices  ? 

In  the  Hibbert  Journal  for  April  the  editor. 
Dr.  L.  P.  Jacks,  has  a  most  impressive  article  on 


184  PRAYER  IN  WAR  TIME 

the  present  situation.  He  carries  us  with  him 
from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  his  paper.  Dr. 
Jacks  admits  that  we  ought  to  have  known  that 
the  rulers  of  Germany  were  preparing  to  attack 
us.  We  are  much  to  blame  that  we  had  to  wait 
for  the  outbreak  of  the  war  before  discovering 
the  predatory  intentions  of  Germany.  We  were 
amply  warned.  But  he  contends  that  we  could 
not  have  been  prepared  for  such  a  war  as  this  has 
turned  out  to  be.  We  could  not  have  believed 
that  Germany  meant  to  overthrow  the  moral 
foundation  on  which  Western  civilisation  has  been 
built  up.  Nor  could  we  have  known  that  Germany 
'  was  ready  to  base  her  conduct  in  war  on  a  code 
of  ethics  which  has  never  yet  been  acknowledged 
by  man  nor  practised  anywhere  unless  it  be  in  the 
nethermost  pit.'  We  were  perplexed  a  little,  even 
after  the  war  began,  but  gradually  the  truth 
dawned  upon  us.  The  orgy  of  bestiality  in 
Belgium,  the  sinking  of  the  Lusitania,  the  bom- 
barding of  defenceless  towns,  the  murder  of 
Armenians,  the  killing  of  Nurse  Cavell,  and  other 
things  clear  as  the  sun  in  heaven,  set  a  final  seal 
on  our  conviction  that  the  work  we  have  to  resist 
and  overthrow  is  from  first  to  last  the  devil's  work. 
Since  Dr.  Jacks  wrote  we  have  read  the  horrible 
story  of  the  fearful  suffering  at  Wittenberg  Camp. 


THE  ACCEPTANCE  OF  SACRIFICE    185 

When  typhus  broke  out  the  German  doctors  fled. 
Before  that  they  had  employed  savage  dogs  to 
terrorise  the  prisoners.  Flogging  with  a  rubber 
whip  was  frequent.  Men  were  tied  to  posts  with 
their  arms  above  their  heads  for  hours.  The  men 
actually  looked  upon  the  typhus,  with  all  its 
horrors,  as  a  godsend.  The  prisoners,  starved  and 
naked,  had  no  help  except  from  the  heroic  English 
doctors,  two  of  whom  died  of  typhus  about  a 
month  after  their  arrival.  The  German  medical 
officer  in  charge  of  the  camp  visited  only  on  one 
occasion,  attired  in  a  complete  suit  of  protective 
clothing,  including  mask  and  rubber  gloves.  A 
certain  number  of  coffins  were  sent  in  by  the 
Germans  every  day,  in  which  the  bodies  of  the 
dead  were  put.  What  the  prisoners  found  hardest 
to  bear  was  the  jeers  with  which  the  coffins  were 
frequently  greeted  by  the  inhabitants  of  Witten- 
berg, who  stood  outside  the  wire  and  were  per- 
mitted to  insult  the  dead. 

We  say  with  Dr.  Jacks,  that  what  calls  us  to 
battle  is  naked  Evil.  It  is  no  longer  Germany, 
but  a  fiendish  power  behind  her  that  we  are  fight- 
ing against,  and  we  know  what  we  are  fighting  for. 
With  naked  Evil  we  must  fight,  and  we  can  fight 
only  one  way,  for  reason  and  persuasion  are  out 
of  the  question  here.     So  our  hesitations  vanish. 


186  PRAYER  IN  WAR  TIME 

What  more  proof  do  we  want  that  the  hour  when 
the  soul  must  put  on  its  armour  is  arrived  ?  From 
now  forwards  till  this  power  is  broken  nothing  else 
really  matters.  We  cannot  all  be  soldiers  or 
sailors,  but  we  can  give  what  we  possess  to  the  last 
penny,  and  ungrudgingly,  '  the  last  ounce  of  mental 
and  moral  energy ;  the  loss  of  our  noblest  and 
best ;  our  own  lives  as  a  matter  of  course.  For 
we  are  fighting  against  an  enemy  whose  triumph 
would  be  tlT£  defeat  of  our  souls,  and  the  vow  has 
been  vowed  that  he  shall  not  prevail.'  Out  of  this 
conflict  and  this  coming  victory  will  rise  a  new 
and  nobler  race.  Dr.  Jacks  says  rightly  :  '  I  can 
imagine  nothing  worse  for  my  native  land  than 
another  century  of  such  a  life  as  we  were  living 
before  the  war.  Before  the  end  of  it  we  should 
have  gone  to  pieces,  and  it  would  have  needed 
no  attack  from  without  to  lay  our  Empire  in  ruins. 
A  shock  was  necessary  to  bring  us  to  our  senses 
and  to  send  our  quacks  to  the  right-about.'  But 
now  we  have  a  vision  of  a  better  day.  Our  gallant 
fighters  make  their  ceaseless  appeal.  For  us  their 
bodies  are  broken,  for  us  their  blood  is  shed.  Are 
we  worthy  of  the  sacrifice  ? 

We  have  a  word  to  say  about  the  persons  called 
conscientious  objectors.  Those  who  can  fight  and 
stand  aside  from  fighting  will  be  judged  in  the 


THE  ACCEPTANCE  OF  SACRIFICE     187 

time  to  come.  For  the  rest,  the  State  has  certain 
powers.  It  may  not  choose  to  exercise  all  its 
powers  on  those  who  are  accepting  the  sacrifices 
made  for  them  and  treating  them  as  they  do.  In 
common  justice  the  State  should  see  that  at  least 
the  pecuniary  sacrifice  made  by  those  men  shall 
be  as  great  as  the  pecuniary  sacrifice  made  by  the 
fighters.  It  ought  also  to  make  sure  that  they  are 
doinjg  the  necessary  work  of  the  country.  The 
nation  will  do  what  remains  to  be  done. 


Printed  in  Great  Britain  by  T.  and  A.  Constable,  Printers  to  His  Majesty 
at  the  Edinburgh  University  Press 


Date  Due 

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